A guy I used to work with nearly burned down his house when the embers flew over his house and ignited the leaves he hadn't raked yet. The fire got caught in the swirling air behind the house and burned against the overall wind direction and toward the house.

A neighbor spotted it an called the FD. The Fire Department rolls up and he complains that he is safely burning his leaves on his property and that he won't put up with any of their complaints. Meanwhile the fire is advancing on the house where he can't see it.

The fireman finally just guns the engine past him as he shakes his fist and cusses. Only when the engine pulls up on the other side of the house and the firemen start hosing the fire down does he realize that they aren't after his burn barrel.

The fire advanced to within a couple of feet of the house and slightly melted some of his vinyl siding.

Sometimes it isn't burning that gets you. A friend had some rural property with his house on it. A tree fell and took out the power line feeding his house. This started a fire and it burned down a couple score acres and a couple of unoccupied trailers. It took a fire engine and a crew of forest service firefighters, mostly using crawler and plow, half a day and part of the night to contain it.

Legally, because of his to failure to remove the tree that endangered the power line, he could have been charged with the cost of fighting the fire and sued by the other homeowners for damage to their trailers and property. He sweated for about a year before the states attorney finally announced the state wouldn't ask for payment. After a few more years his attorney finally announced the private landowners couldn't sue.

He wasn't a rich man and the bills could have been $100,000 or more. It would have sunk him.