The fallen tree gets the first hour; the trees still standing get the days after.

The crew's storm advisory asks for two kinds of care: keep away from downed power lines, and do not park under a sagging tree. Both apply again once people and cars return to the yard.

A downed line stays the utility's, and who to call about a tree on a power line names the providers. The night itself has its own order in the first hour after a tree hits your house, and a tree already down on the house, a car or the driveway is a call for 24-hour emergency tree service.

The NC Forest Service's checklist for storm-damaged trees names signs that show from the ground: a trunk that "appears to be leaning now but was upright before the storm"; soil mounded at the base on the side the wind came from; cracks in the trunk or where main branches join it; and broken branches hanging in the crown.

Signs like these are explained one at a time in the hazard tree field guide, and the storm's own leftovers, like a sapling pinned under a trunk, are listed in what not to touch after a storm.

The Forest Service adds that "Potential windfall, cracking, splits, hangers and drooping branches pose a safety risk and should be addressed as soon as possible." Taking down a hanger, a broken limb caught in the crown, is tree work: rigging, climbing or a crane.

NC State Extension says pine bark beetles "primarily attack pines stressed by another agent," names storm damage among the stresses that set a pine up for Ips engraver beetles, and says the black turpentine beetle most often infests recently wounded trees. The NC Forest Service, writing for foresters with storm-damaged pine stands, sets its priorities by "the risk of a pest outbreak" that storm damage creates.

Extension says a pine under attack shows needles fading "from green to light green, to yellow, to red," and may show pitch tubes of dried sap where beetles bore in, though Ips can work high in the canopy, out of view from the ground.

For beetles in a pine, the NC Forest Service says to call the county ranger. A pine that dies over a house or a driveway turns into tree removal work.

Keeping a damaged tree and dealing with its hazards run on two schedules. For the first, NC State Extension's storm guidance lists trees to remove and trees to consider keeping, then says that when in doubt, "postpone the decision and evaluate the tree again in a few months."

For the second, the emergency or Monday job tiers sort a tree resting on a roof from a crack with nothing under it. Waiting on a close call does not take removal off the table.

Lexington's and Thomasville's curb rules for brush differ, and the Davidson County storm log quotes both. Beyond the curb, none of the Davidson County solid waste pages read for this guide says whether a county landfill or drop-off site takes storm brush, limbs or logs, so ask the county's Integrated Solid Waste department first.

Burning answers to more than one office: the NC Forest Service says to "Make sure you have a valid permit before burning storm debris," and the state Division of Air Quality says yard waste from a home may be burned there "only if it is allowed under local ordinances and only if public pickup is not available," so ask both, and local officials, first.

Cleanup is part of the crew's job, done the way the customer asks, and how the yard is left is something to settle when the job is quoted.

Davidson County's Alerts page says residents who want text alerts about emergencies in the county can subscribe to Genasys, which it calls "an alert system where citizens can receive community alerts by e-mail, text and phone." Past storms are dated in the Davidson County storm log.

If the storm damaged the house too, tree damage insurance claims in North Carolina walks the claim in the state regulator's order, and the crew works with the homeowner's insurer to make the process smoother. For out-of-town crews in storm weeks, how tree work gets quoted offers a checklist for reading any quote.