When temperatures dropped last night, many people heard loud and frightening sounds, almost replicating the sound of a gun being fired. 21 News found that the sound was coming from trees doing what arborists call, dampening.

"Basically that ice is cracking throughout the canopy of the tree," said Mark Noark, Consulting Arborist for the Davey Tree Exper Company. "Hardwood trees seem to be the ones that are making a lot of that noise," he said.

Some of the trees only crack and make frightening noises. Others are too weak to withstand the frigid temperatures and snap!

"All of a sudden it sound slike a big bomb explodes so dogs started going crazy," said Brandy Thompson, an Austintown resident. "We jumped up come running to the sliding glass door, looked out and there was this big tree branch that fell down from up there," she said.

Some people were so shaken up by the blaring trees, they called 9-1-1, terrified they were in danger. One of those calls went like this:

CALLER: Th-there's there's another shot.
DISPATCHER: Okay...
CALLER: There's another shot...stay down Tom! I dont know, get d-, get down! In case they shoot, shoot through the window or something.
DISPATCHER: Did you see or hear anything other than the shot?
CALLER: Sound like somebody was kicking the door.

As scary as this may have been for some people, you can decrease the chance of it happening in the future by contacting a professional arborist to help you properly prune your trees.

"Pruning trees is identifying specific branching throughout the canopy of a tree, and removing those branches such as crossing branches, co-dominant branches," said Noark.

Diseased and dead limbs should be removed from your trees as well.