Ferdinand Escoffery and two colleagues hovered three stories above Elm Street Thursday sawing and hammering. They removed the final top-story rotting and burnt wood from a fatal fire and began preparing to put in a new roof. The day’s mission: Put in new fascia board to support gutters a nd protect the inside from rain. Even if it takes until dark. That was the latest step in a projected $250,000 renewal mission that Escoffery undertook in June at 516 Elm (near Kensington Street and Stop Shop). A month earlier he purchased a house there that a fire had ravaged (and killed the tenant who started it). It was destroyed enough that many people would have considered demolishing it to build anew. Ferdinand, a 50-year-old Jamaican native, has built a career the past two decades of doing the opposite: bringing fire-wrecked houses like this one back to life. (Click here to read a previous in-depth article about his story and his work.) During a break in the work Thursday morning, Escoffery said he doubts that he could readily gain permission to build a three-family house on the spot if he had demolished the shell of the existing structure. Instead he’d have to settle for one or two units. He wanted to make sure more housing was preserved by restoring the original three-family home, he said. He also sees a spiritual purpose in the restoration: “I love it when people tell me, ‘There’s no more life left into it. Tear it down.’ And then I’m able to fix it back. When I finish I see the beauty in it, to me, that’s comforting.” He and the five people on his crew have a lot of work to get there. He has sheetrocking, flooring, HVAC, and electrician subcontractors lined up to help … once the roof is done. To date the crew has gutted the interior, cleared out all the debris, erected frames for the new rooms, created the new frame for the rear part of the roof. Thursday’s job included the tail end of removing fire-damaged wood from the roof, sawing the fascia board, placing it along the edges of the roof along the front, sides, and back. To stay on schedule, Escoffery planned to keep going to finish that work until 6 or later. The plan is to get the roof on by next week — even if that includes keeping going through Sunday with no days off. When will the full restoration be done and the house ready for new occupants? “I would say about November,” Escoffery said, then returned to the roof to make that a reality. Click on the above video to watch Escoffery describe the work, tour the interior — and demonstrate a perilous tree-uprooted patch of sidewalk he has posted about on SeeClickFix in hope the city will fix it. To help him make a begotten patch of the Dwight neighborhood a safe, busy place once more. Ferdinand Escoffery takes a break (above) and on the roof (at top of story) Thursday on Elm Street. 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