..... Probably don't want to magnify this issue out of proportion.
Yes, but we can look at things through the lens of of 20/20 hindsight and focus our attention on the key points

As more of a novelty than anything else I recall hearing about someone who could successfully start a fire by smoothing a peice of ice into a lens and using that. I think there might be a youtube video out there somewhere of him demonstrating this.
An amusing stunt but probably not a practical strategy in most situations.