termites killed a 110ft hemlock which then blew over and squashed my workshop!

I bought an older home in the port kells area of surrey back in sep 07... during the big windstorm in november, one of the 100+ft hemlock trees in my back yard snapped off about 8 feet from the ground and fell on top of my workshop... inside the trunk of the tree was the unmistakable remnents of termite damage - all the little windy paths and holes etc... the lady that used to own the home had a wood pile under this tree, and after the crane came to take the tree off the workshop, and the lumberjacks came to cut UP the tree, and the arbourists came to chop down the other sick trees and thin out the branches on everything else, I started moving the woodpile... and found the most disgusting little creatures - pig pink and squirmy... I did some research and it appears I have subterranean termites, and I was lucky enough to see some of the workers... called a few exterminators, none actually believed me until they saw the eaten wood... problem is, none of them know what the heck to DO! I have quite a few hemlock trees in my yard, all are over 100ft tall and many are within 8-20 feet of my house - well within falling distance! you can see holes in the bark of all these trees, so I'm concerned the same thing is happening again... I thought that termites only ate dead wood, but now i'm not so sure... question is, I want these little critters blasted to kingdom come, green, not green, I don't care what is used or how much at this point... one tends to be a little hypersensitive when staring at a tree that, if the wind had been blowing the other way, would be laying on top of your sleeping body! so I know there are sprays, bait traps etc etc... but if they are IN the trees, what is the best way to get them out, and how can I test to see if they're in - core samples or something?

 

Have hazard tree evaluations done by certified arborists. If the bark of a hemlock is gotten through by a decay agent they don't have much to stop it at that point. Fungi may have gotten into your tree and made it more suitable inside for the dampwood termites beforehand - if that happens (seems likely). Termites are nature's garbage men, cleaning up wood so the forest doesn't disappear under mountains of fallen trees - even then some old growth stands may be criss-crossed with fallen logs that are taking a long time to disappear.

Down here I am seeing mass topplings of hemlocks on some times, always associated with a little purple conk. One mountain site I visited was a fairlyland of giant hemlocks perched on top of boulders and logs the first time I was there - a classic PNW old growth forest if ever there was. On a subsequent visit only a few years later (or less) just about the whole stand was on the ground, leaving a few silver firs here and there to revel in their newfound freedom.

 

termites do eat dead wood. there is obviously dead wood in parts of the live trees and they've worked their way to the dead parts.

you need to get all those trees with obvious termite holes looked at by professionals and get them treated at the least...and you'll need to take down any that are severely damaged so that your house (and any others in the area) are protected from them falling.