> 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.
Some background for those who don't know the story: kauri is probably the best structural lumber in the world, but the huge trees are so slow-growing that farming it has been impossible. Now that the remaining kauri is ultra-protected, the lumber in Ponsonby would have been originally harvested in the 19th century, when the whole city of San Francisco was built out of it.