Well... I'm in the middle of a Batman fanfiction in which a firebug is able to ignite 30 warehouses (15 on each side of a shipping lane, perhaps 200 yards wide--at least that's what Google tells me it should be). I'm guessing that the buildings would probably occupy about a quarter of a mile on each side of the shipping lane.
I've tried googling 'forest fire boil pond', but I can't think of what else to google. Basically, I have a transient who was sleeping on the loading dock and woke up to see everything around him in flames. If he, in a panic, jumps into the water, assuming he can swim, will he be safe--or will he be boiling more than his shoes?