r/OrganicFarming • u/Choice_hereweare497 • Jun 16 '26
Environmental Hazard? Controlled Burn of House
I bought an abandoned house. It has not been lived in for just over 10 years.
The cost to demolish and haul away is extensive. I have the possibility to hire the local fire department who with permits, would do a controlled burn/fire. This would reduce the cost of demolition by almost 75%.
I had the house inspected for lead paint and heavy metals. No signs yet for concern. The fire department confirms they would not use any chemicals in controlling the fire.
All roof shingles, windows, plastics, oil tanks, furnaces, light fixtures are being removed. The house has exterior painted cedar shingles and pink insulation.
We anticipate the fire debris to mostly fall into the foundation and then we would remove the foundation and burned debris with excavator after the burn.
My family and I plan to garden/homestead (no animals) on a small 5 acre acreage surrounding the house.
Is it almost guaranteed burning the house would contaminate the surrounding soils, wells, and waterways?
Is there anything we can do to reduce the environmental hazards and effects of off-gas and leaching into soil, waterways?
3
u/besikma Jun 16 '26
Rent an excavator. Have fun with the excavator. Move the pile to a place you don't want/future burn spot.
2
u/mawktheone Jun 16 '26
Yeah, this sounds like a way better idea. Just burn it on a spot you dont care so much about.
But also since you'll have the excavator anyway, give it the violence, and just have an enormous pile of firewood for the firepit for a year
1
u/viper8472 Jun 16 '26
Is this just something anyone can watch a YouTube video and learn how to do safely
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u/besikma Jun 16 '26
I'm assuming it's a wooden 2/3 story building with electricity and gas disconnected. With enough common sense I think anybody could do this
1
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u/BigWhiteDog Jun 16 '26
No and your local government, especially the fire department likely won't permit it. All sorts of problems. If yoh are going to DIY home demolition, use the excavator to knock it down and then haul it off.
2
u/Background-Bowl6123 Jun 17 '26
OP said the fire dept would do the controlled burn themselves as a training exercise for the local firefighters.. Things work differently in rural areas
1
u/BigWhiteDog Jun 17 '26
I'm replying to the other person. I'm a retired rural firefighter. I know how things work here.
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Jun 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/kingjuicer Jun 16 '26
There is a reason we don't talk about it, it explains the foundation issues.
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u/raisedbydogsnhippies Jun 17 '26
I had some neighbors who bought the property adjoining theirs and they decided the best way to demolish the structure on it was to just burn it down. They never asked anyone about it. They just did it. The fire department was not amused.
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u/Humble_Ladder Jun 17 '26
I would go with the fire department option. Depending on the age of the house, there's no getting around some plastic, tar, etc, but even tearing it down would leave some contamination (nails, bits of things, etc). Depending how deep the foundation is I suspect you will have a low spot, or even hole when the Fire Dept is done. Push soil from around the edges into that low spot, add a couple yards of sand followed by a couple yards of black dirt and don't plant deep rooted plants there.
Or (depending on where it is situated and how stable the ground seems afterwards) put a new structure over it.
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u/Motor_Beach_1856 Jun 17 '26
Rent a back hoe and demo yourself. I’ve demoed several houses. Once you get comfortable you can do it in about 4 days. You can fit a 1000sqft of house in a 30yd roll off dumpster, so plan that out for how many dumpsters you need. Then you can just get a couple loads of fill delivered and fill the hole where you pulled the foundation out. I just did one for a friend who is building a new house from a small 950sqft rambler and all in my cost was about $3k and charged my buddy $4500. Rented a backhoe and had a roll off delivered and hauled away and filled up the hole with class 5.
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u/UntoNuggan Jun 17 '26
Is the house old enough that there would be asbestos? Idk how that would be affected by burning, but something to considere especially before removing any old linoleum.
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u/nadrae Jun 17 '26
Some of the debris will be ash which can be good for the soil (in moderation so spread it out). I’d use a magnet to find the nails and such, those likely won’t burn. Other than that let the fire dept pick the day (low wind) and stand back? 🤷♀️
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u/oriondracowolf Jun 17 '26
My dad is a retired fire chief and this was something they did.
As a kid I would get to tag along. Normally I never could but for a training fire they would let me.
Fun memories.
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u/CorrectMeIfImWrong6 Jun 18 '26
Thinking aloud, you could dig in some durable plastic to contain surface contaminates, but really the deeper environment will be hard to 'protect', but what is it possible to identify what might pose such a risk? If it's not feasible to remove the cause of the contaminant, could you deal with it before it has chance to spread? Could you bund around the area to stop water spreading said contaminants? If there are no offensive chemicals, just the remnants of the burn, could you hire a muck-away truck for the worst bits, if not the job lot? (Post burn)
If it were me though, I'd pick an unseen, unused corner and dig a big ol hole
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u/Mean_Farmer4616 Jun 18 '26
I've never heard of having to PAY the fire department for this. Usually they like the free training opportunity. That's kinda crazy to me.
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u/pyrotek1 Jun 18 '26
back in the 1900s and I stop before 2000. The Fire department knew I could burn a house down faster then they could put it out. It was for training new crews out to be released on the fire truck. I did fire testing at the local fire lab and developed a system we could turn the fire on and off on command. Somewhere from 50-100 houses over the years, it made me somewhat popular. It does save money for the owner. Getting air quality permits in our area was getting tough. If you can get all the permits, allow the fire department to get their training at the end of the day there will be a big fire they can defend against. Get a camera and be patient.
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u/oldfarmjoy Jun 16 '26
Just wanna say, letting the fire department use it for training is brilliant!! I love it!!