Many years ago, in my early teens, I helped my Dad demolish his old wood-with-asbestos-roof garage before erecting a new concrete one.
I got the job of burning the old one (probably volunteered for it - a teenager and a bonfire..
)
It started to rain and the fire wasn't doing too well, so I hit on the bright idea of propping a couple of sheets of the asbestos roof over it, which would keep the rain off.
Good idea, the fire then built up to a satisfying keep-at-a-distance blaze, except that when the asbestos sheets got hot they started to explode. I guess pockets of dampness inside the asbestos boiled to steam, which meant that fist-sized bits of asbestos were shooting-out in all directions.
I hadn't been that fussed about the sheets, after all they'd been on the roof of the garage for years, but surely this would be releasing loose asbestos fibres into the air...