Sometimes, the mark of a true professional is knowing when to throw in the towel.
Whether you're a boxer, gambler, or matchmaker, sometimes it pays to admit the odds are stacked against you and give up.
But firefighters are known for sacrificing their own lives in the fight to protect their communities from fires.
That's why this video of firefighters burning down a home has attracted so much attention online.
Condemned To Flames
In 2010, the city council of Pana, Illinois began receiving strange complaints from residents.
It turned out an abandoned home on one of the city's residential streets had become infested, and the pests inside were beginning to spread to nearby homes.
While the council agreed to use bug bombs and pesticides in the condemned building, it had little effect on the hardy German cockroaches inside.
This species is known for breeding quickly, which makes an infestation even tougher to squash than usual.
Left with no other choice, the city council took drastic measures and called in the local fire department.
But instead of saving the building, they were instructed to torch it.
A Ring Of Fire
Controlled burns are not unheard of, and most fire departments have experience setting controlled burns for firefighting exercises.
But they're mainly used to control forest fires, not on residential streets just a few blocks from a public park.
The trouble was that German cockroaches are known for burrowing into a building's foundations, and would scatter if the home was destroyed any other way.
So Pana City's fire department separated the home by digging a fire trench, and burned the entire structure to the ground.
The impressive procedure involved setting a literal ring of fire around the building, which was stuffed with straw and doused in gasoline.
A small army of firefighters were on hand in case things went wrong, and nearby homes were doused with water to prevent flames from spreading.
When the home was burned down to its foundations, firefighters put out the blaze and inspected the remains.
With no live roaches found in the smoldering home, and no new infestations reported, the extreme extermination was called a success.
While it's not exactly practical, I have to admit it was kind of satisfying to watch a house full of creepy-crawlies go up in smoke. It's too bad opportunities like this don't come along more often.
[H/T: SF Globe]
