Recently there was a huge fire in a city near my home. I saw it on TV,
and I drove past the remains today. The old 2 story business with 5
apartments on the second floor (The building where the fire began), was
leveled. Four other homes and two garages were also leveled. There are
some bulldozers there, because they will be removing all the rubble
soon. The news reports said that nothing can be salvaged. One partly
burned garage was already demolished (immediately after the fire),
because it was leaning against a home that did not burn.

But the part that caught my eye were other buildings nearby that are
still standing. All of those buildings which have vinyl siding, even
those as far away as a block, have siding all warped and/or falling off.
Some places have large blobs of this siding melted together at the base
of the house. The buildings with painted wood siding were not damaged,
except those directly next to the fire, where the paint was charred in
spots.

If you suspect there will ever be a fire in your neighborhood, DO NOT
install vinyl siding. It does not hold up in heat.