[LegendHasIt]

It is REALLY REALLY RARE for a meteorite to cause a fire. Not impossible, but oh... somewhere between 1 in 250,000 to 1 in 500,000 I’d guess.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> It is REALLY REALLY RARE for a meteorite to cause a fire. Not impossible, but oh... somewhere between 1 in 250,000 to 1 in 500,000 I’d guess.

Ponsonby’s buildings are mostly constructed out of old timber. Given the age of the buildings, I’d speculate much of that timber would be kauri — a hardwood impregnated with natural resin. Burns well.

If I had to speculate further I could surmise maybe 250,000 more plausible causes for a building fire in Pononby than a meteorite. Like a clandestine methamphetamines lab, for instance.

[Islander7]

Could A Meteorite or Comet Cause All The Fires of 1871?

An Upper Peninsula systems design engineer thinks so, as does a former physicist with McDonnell Douglas Corp.

Consider a statement by the Detroit Post on Oct. 10, 1871: "In all parts of the state, as will be noticed by our correspondence during the past few days and also today, there are numerous fires in the wood, in many places approaching so near to towns as to endanger the towns themselves."

In Holland, fire destroyed the city, in Lansing flames threatened the agricultural college and in the Thumb, farmers trying to establish homesteads soon would be diving into shallow wells to escape an inferno some newspapers dubbed: "The Fiery Fiend." Many did not escape.