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Because of the way the current rules are written, they allow for some very odd situations in the game. One such situation happened to cross our table a few weeks ago.
the setting: A combat in a library. Books and sheets of papers stacked everywhere, wooden shelves, candles and lanterns abound.
An 8th level Sorcerer tosses a fireball inside the library. The fireball goes off and lights up all flammables in the area as well as nuking the target for 8 dice of fire damage. Result: burning books, shelves, exploded lanterns, melted candles and a heck of a blaze beginning.
Same setting. A Huge red dragon is in the same library and blasts a cone of fire. The targets in the cone get fried. The library remains blissfully intact and ignorant of the flames, despite the crispy critters in it.
Why?
A simple part of the rule mechanics. The fireball's rule entry says: The fireball sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in the area. It can melt metals with low melting points, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, and bronze.
You can imagine the comedy.