No, there is no soft ball sized metallic object in the ground. I can see where lightning blew the bark off this dead trunk and roots of the swamp maple.

All the smoke was coming up from around the trunk of the maple, once the rest of the fire was out.

Must have been during one of the thundersorms on Saturday or even Friday the 13th. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Must have just smoldered down in the ground and gradually caught the dead part of the tree on fire and spread to nearby vegetation.