It used to be really commonplace here to let ivy grow on walls of apartment complexes. Until there was a spate of massive fires in ~2005, give or take a few years, after a heat wave dried the ivy and turned them into perfect tinder to completely envelop a building in flames before anybody was even aware there was something needing escape.
A lot of people died, but hey, at least the buildings looked great before they turned into smoking husks!