But on the other side of her house, she said, drying trees remain untouched.
The fire started April 16 when a fallen power line ignited tinder-dry trees near the sprawling Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The house had a designer look as well, with its railings and balconies and Italianate marbles under the tall dry trees.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gadomski said, thunderstorms boiled up in the mountains and the Western forests burst into flame when lightning struck the dry trees.
On Aug. 5, 1949, a dozen smoke jumpers died when tinder-dry trees erupted in flames in a fire in Mann Gulch, near Helena, Mont.
The first is the drought: dry trees are not just easier to burn, they are also weaker, because they are more vulnerable to disease and insects.
Jane S. Hoffman, the city's consumer affairs commissioner, warned that fresh trees should be kept away from radiators or open flames and should be well-watered, because dry trees are more likely to catch on fire.
Rising around him was the sharp smell of dry trees, the dander of grubby monkey fur, boiled beans, burned meat, foul water, until the darkness itself seemed to stifle him.
He expects his costs to double by 2015 to upwards of $80 per ton for green trees or $120 a ton for dry trees.
Intuitively, it might seem that mountainsides pincushioned with dead, dry trees should burn more readily than those still awash in green.
