Louisville-based demolition contractor CRS Demolition started this week to tear down eight buildings at the Keller Manufacturing Co. north of downtown Corydon, KY.

The company won a $397,335 contract to rip down the structures and haul away the rubble. The job also includes digging up and removing foundations and footers.

The razing got off to a slow start when one of the company's two excavators malfunctioned and had to be shut down for repairs, project manager David Milam said.

As Milam and another crew chief, Ricki Ashley, watched from the cab of a red pickup, the lone excavator on the job Wednesday afternoon swiveled and scooped the wooden remains of Building 24 into a waiting dump truck.

Another worker sprayed jets of water over the rubble to keep the dust in check and cool the equipment.

"It's been going wonderful so far," Milam said of the project, except for the excavator problem.

The progress is being watched closely by residents of historic homes bordering the east side of the 14.6-acre site. Neighbors have worried that a fire could start at the factory, which was vacated by the defunct company about three years ago, and then spread.

Town officials felt they'd dodged a bullet after an incident early last week when workers with National Environmental Contracting, which is doing asbestos removal, entered one of the factory buildings and smelled smoke.

Harrison Township volunteer firefighters were summoned, and they traced the smoke to smoldering floorboards -- possibly the work of vandals -- in a separate building connected by a conveyor to where the asbestos crew had started.

That showed the concern about a fire is real, said Bud Bennett, president of Main Street Corydon, the nonprofit group that now owns the property.

"Had they (workers) not been there, that could have been a catastrophe," said Virginia Davis, who rents an apartment in the 600 block of North Capitol.

"We've all been very anxious about the fire hazard over there."

Knocking down all eight buildings and hauling away several additional piles of rubble could take more than two months, according to estimates. What will remain is an original brick building that local officials weren't allowed to tear down with the $500,000 state grant because of prohibitions on using such money to remove historic structures.

Eventually, Main Street and Harrison County tourism executives will determine whether to keep that building or find other means to clear it away. A hotel, convention center and other attractions may follow.

In the meantime, seeing demolition begin has been heartening, Bennett said.

"I'm very happy. It's been a long time."