Burning branches. Mulch them and use around garden beds to retain moisture and improve soil as they decompose increasing NPK, locking carbon from the atmosphere and increasing the micro biology of your immediate eco system.
Burning a rubber tire, pollution to the atmosphere. These are ground up these days and added to building materials to improve the durability of roads for example.
Using valuable gasoline to light a fire, there will be some one somewhere down to their last gallon who needs it and their life might depend on it.

You would have used the gasoline in the mulcher instead of attempting to destroy your wagon. Sounds like an expensive weekend that could have been even more so if not for luck.

A good investment may be an occupational health and safety course and a sustainable gardening/Permaculture course for gardener Damien. Both will give a good return on capital.

Lets not preach that others are to blame for economic collapses when we ourselves engage in unsustainable practice in the things we do.

Obviously the wealthy and privileged need to lead from the front by learning new ways.

The log splitter is a great invention but unfortunately the time it saves tends to be frittered away and can lull many into an abyss of laziness and over consumption.

Think WASTE NOT WASTE NOT.
Ivor Evans Melbourne Australia.