I really like the idea of the wooden shacks catching fire!
BTW, there are some hidden goals to max out the rating bar:
- 30 homes
- $10K on the bank
- land value over 4.0, but below 6.0
- all taxes below 6%, or below 12% combined
I thought not "spelling it out" would make the game feel more sandbox-like, but you do get new headlines on the newspaper once these goals are reached.