How do you think we get molten steel in the first place? Burning carbonaceous fuels (e.g., coke in blast furnaces). The flame temperature is much higher than the melting point. We burn kerosene in gas turbine engines all the time and it is impossible to make the engines from steel, as it would not withstand the combustion temperature. I don't regard this as a mystery at all, and if you think it is, you are not listening to the relevant facts.
A pile that burned for weeks? What's mysterious about that? You are aware that there are coal mines that have been burning for 60 years? Smoldering piles of wreckage are not uncommon.
How do you think we get molten steel in the first place? Burning carbonaceous fuels (e.g., coke in blast furnaces). The flame temperature is much higher than the melting point. We burn kerosene in gas turbine engines all the time and it is impossible to make the engines from steel, as it would not withstand the combustion temperature. I don't regard this as a mystery at all, and if you think it is, you are not listening to the relevant facts.
A pile that burned for weeks? What's mysterious about that? You are aware that there are coal mines that have been burning for 60 years? Smoldering piles of wreckage are not uncommon.