I work a a fire department in the area full time. I stumbled upon this strategy by way of the recruit school that new firefighters go though when they are first hired. The county I work for has training burns where they will literally burn a house to the ground. Not every fire department will do this, so I would advise you to check with your local authorities to see if this could be an option for you. This process also doesn't happen over night (its the government you're working with) but I can give you a break down of how everything went.
- The home owner contacted the fire dept. over a month in advance to before we ever stepped foot on the property.
- The house had been gutted of every single appliance in it (water heater, stove, dishwasher etc.) prior to the fire dept arriving,
- the Fire dept does not pay for the clean up for the property after the burn (at least our county doesn't)
This is for a very specific situation but there are perks for the home owner for the demolition of the property. The amount of weight being hauled off of your property will be at a minimum, cut in half. the demo of the property will take much less time, costing you much less money. You will also have the moral perk of being able to give the people who will be protecting your assets an opportunity to train on the real thing. In my experience it was a win win both ways, from the home owner and firefighters perspective.
Attached are images from the house post burn. originally it was a mobile home, but at some point they had completely put up a white brick facade and added an addition in the rear of the house, and a front porch.