Got a call our old story building was burning.

Gale Hawkins · Jun 1, 2011

We have about 15 acres we have put together that run down to the state highway that included an old wooden frame grocery that was about 100 years old but was dry due to a metal roof.

About midnight we got a call it was on fire. I went down the hill just before it fell in. The metal roof held the heat in until the attic came falling down.

I have been watching it but it back burned itself and the fire department put out a few spots and knocked down the fire but with all the metal roof covering the fire they monitored it and was working to protect a neighbors building but after it fell in and they knocked it down with water it was not of a treat.

It is aweful that people just set fires for no reason. There was a few things stored in the building but we can live just fine without them.The backhoe will come in handy getting the metal roofing out without getting into the middle of things on foot. Wish I had waited on mounting the new rear tires.

There was a barn very near by that burned last year or two but it was a nice pole barn unlike the old building of ours that was without cash value.

Well life will go on but a fire to start in a building without power makes one wonder what it will be next time. My aunt had passed so we came by the building about 9 PM and all was well.In a unsealed building it had to have been on fire for a while to be falling in at 12 midnight.

I am going to spot the cart with 15 gallon sprayer now so should the wind get up with the sun I can manage a small grass fire but I think it will all be fine.

lhfarm · Jun 1, 2011

Sorry you are having to deal with this. I hope the local authorities will help you find the source of the fire. It would certainly appear to be arson. If it was, then there is the danger that the next time he/they strike someone will be injured or killed.

Chuck52 · Jun 1, 2011

With that nearby pole barn burning, too, I hope you don't turn out to have a serial arsonist in your neighborhood. I remember as a kid back in east Tennessee when idiots used to set fires in the Cherokee National Forest. As I recall, those fools felt they had some grievance against the Forest Service, but some firebugs are just nuts.

Chuck

dmccarty · Jun 1, 2011

We had a serial arsonist running around my area for a while burning down barns and old buildings. I cannot remember if they caught him or not but the fires have stopped. Seems like every few years there will be a series of arson files in the area.

Sorry for the loss. I hope they catch who did it.

Later,
Dan

Gale Hawkins · Jun 1, 2011

Well with a lot of leaf blower time and shifting the metal roofing enough to get more air to the fire in places I think we will be fine the forecast of 5 MPH wind with 13 MPH gusts.

This fire may have been set by another but we have one about 3 houses down the road with a 25 year history but a year or two ago he got arrested but it was based on see 'his' truck leave the fire but do not know the legal outcome of that event.

Going to get a nap after running all night. Had to move the backhoe fast in the fire. :thumbsup:

Gale Hawkins · Jun 2, 2011

Wish I had a thumb now.

The metal roof was heavier than I expected and wants to act as one sheet due to the nails pinning some of the pieces together still.

Since the roof center went in first it bucked/rolled the 5 V metal roofing so they are no longer flat sheets.

Since I do not have a thumb to crunch it in up I guess when it all cools down we will work to flatten out the pieces so we can haul them on a trailer weighted down with other scrap metal from the fire.

It will be a way the kids can pick up a few dollars and learn more about the savage industry first hand.

I can see when burning brush/dozer piles having a backhoe to regroup the fire would lead to a better burn and less chainsaw use due to the need to reburn. Clearly one can not stay in the heat too long before the bucket gets more than warm to touch. :thumbsup:

Gale Hawkins · Jun 4, 2011

They got my neighbor's old storage house about 500' from where they burnt ours three nights ago.

It was built by a family with assets before electricity. The house was plumbed for carbide lighting system which is still standing all around the outside walls.

It was standing at 10 PM last night. The wife got home from working at the hospital about 1 am and got called back in about 5 am and we still never knew about it but she does not pass that way going to work.

You can tell the fire department knocked it down during the night because one wall is still standing and now ablaze but at no risk of spreading.

For 25 years it has been buildings that where not lived in or barns. I just hope the MO does not change. Tuesday night was moonless.

Where and when next is the remaining question?

dmccarty · Jun 6, 2011

Since the two builds were so close together you have to wonder if it is a kid or an adult without transportation. Sometimes it is kids but I know a couple of the arsonists around my area have been young adults driving around starting the fires. They started fires quite a distance apart.

Later,
Dan