We hired a guy to remove the exterior siding and take down an old farm house. We had already salvaged the interior heart pine siding. The hand hewn seals was our primary target. The contractor had dug a hole and piled the few trees close to the structure. The hole he had dug was full and he decided to burn the tree debris. After lighting the pile he left momentarily to pickup a biscuit. When he returned there was 3 fire departments and County EMS personnel. The fire had engulfed the structure and completely burned in a matter of minutes. The contractor lost his backhoe and our excavator was damaged. We were able to salvage a few of the charred seals (6 or 7 @ approximately 6-8 ft long) and 3 pegs. In the end no loss of life and one was injured. Probably the saddest aspect is the contractor was just trying to make an honest living and lost the backhoe his dad had left him that he couldn't afford to lose.
