This is not the first time I've seen bonsai burning, but it is the first time I've seen one that was intentionally destroyed by fire

I once heard a story about someone that has been growing hundreds, if not thousands of bonsai without any dying. Ever! Based on my experience with tens of thousands of bonsai (I used to own a nursery and now have around 100 trees in pots), I'm skeptical. A dead tree is a learning experience and personally, I've learned a lot. 

In this case, the tree succumbed to disease rather than neglect (or from the wrong person watering while you're on vacation) and was intentionally destroyed The culprit was  Cedar Hawthorn Rust Gall Fungus, and the victims were Morten Albek and his prize winning Juniper procumbens. 

We won't go into too much detail here, we'll just show just you a few photos and invite you to visit Morten's Kisetsu-en blog for the full story

Nice tree. Such a shame it had to go

The culprit in all its terrible glory

Morten burning his baby

Ever practical, Morten puts the coals to good use