I never saw a burn pile, so there is your fire connection?
I guess the stuff we had could have been burnt in our evening trash burn. Or went to the dump when we moved or was just left at the house. We moved like 14 times so stuff was constantly gone. But the stuff we did hang onto, like a picture, dishes, few pieces of furniture, when I go into a flea market or antique store and see it -I get sick to my stomach. My husband likes to hunt for books but I had to just stop going to those places, can't take it seeing that old stuff.