In Springfield, things seem to burst into flames or explode rather unnecessarily, making it one of the funnier running gags. Here's a list of the some of them:

• "Marge vs. the Monorail" - Homer, as the conductor of the monorail, throws an anchor (the 'M' from the Monorail logo) out the window hoping it will stop the train. The anchor begins its destructive journey by cutting down Springfield's oldest tree, which in turn falls on the birthplace of Jebediah Springfield, a log cabin which explodes upon impact of the tree. Unnecessary, unless the cabin contained some kind of explosives.
• "Duffless" - Barney was leaving the Duff Brewery when he was pulled over by Chief Wiggum, dressed like a beer stein. Barney accidentally backs into Wiggum, sending him rolling down a hill. Wiggum was startled, but found it kinda fun. Then the costume exploded as he hit a tree. Tsk, tsk.
• "Krusty Gets Kancelled" - Krusty's show is out of business when the kiddie show about a dummy named "Gabbo" comes to town. Bart and Lisa help him with his comeback show by rounding up a bunch of celebrity guest stars. They track down Bette Midler picking up trash on the highway, and ask her to be on the show. After she agrees, a car speeding by throws a pop can out the window. Bette angrily picks the can up and launches it at the car, which then spins out of the control and falls off the highway exploding. Okay, so the explosion was necessary, but falling off the highway wasn't.
• "Brother from the Same Planet" - Bart waits for Homer to pick him up from soccer practice when a thunderstorm arises. The wind blew strongly, lifting up a woman and blowing her away. "This isn't funny!" were her last words as she explodes on the horizon. Yes, it was funny.
• "Treehouse of Horror IV" - Bart sits on the bus on the way to school when he spots a tiny gremlin (lizard creature) on the side of the bus. He informs Otto, and Otto looks out the window to see Hans Moleman driving a green AMC Gremlin. "Don't worry, Bart. I'll take care of it," says Otto, ramming the car off the road. The Gremlin stops before hitting a tree, but it explodes anyway. It was destiny, I guess.
• "The PTA Disbands" - A shot shows a badly damaged school bus parked in front of the school. A butterfly lands on it and it explodes.
• "Homer the Smithers" - Homer becomes Mr. Burns' assistant when Smithers goes away on vacation. Determined to do a good job, Homer gets up early to make breakfast for Burns' in his kitchen. He tries to cook a shish kabob on the burner, but it ends up in flames. He then punches the microwave door and tries to cook the shish kabob in there, but it also burst into flames. As a last resort, he pours some milk onto some cereal, but alas the cereal too bursts into flames. Seems like there's a pattern there, eh?
• "Team Homer" - Bart incites a riot at school when he wear a T-shirt with a Mad Magazine iron-on that read, "Down with homework." His classmates go wild and start messing up the classroom. A couple of students knock over Mrs. Krabappel's desk, and it bursts into flames. That was unnecessary if it ever was (or is it?).
• "Miracle On Evergreen Terrace" - The family buys a new car with the money given to them by the townspeople. While driving, they hit a patch of ice and the car skids onto a frozen lake, but not before the family bails out of the car. The car sinks to the bottom and explodes.
• "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" - Homer and his barfly pals go on a bender after the Isotopes win a game, and drive through Springfield Elementary, causing havoc. Homer drives around the baseball diamond as if he were running the bases and crashes throught the chain link fence, causing it to burst into flames. Well, they had to cause SOME major damage.
• "Homer to the Max" - The family watches the season premiere of a TV show called "Police Cops" where two detectives foil a bank robbery. They use their martial arts skills and beat up on the criminals in an exaggerated manner. One of the cops even picks one guy up and throws him into his fleeing partners, exploding upon impact. Don't worry, it's TV!
• "Simpson Safari" - Marge and Lisa shoot bees at the Greenpeace jeep. The bees manage to puncture the tires, but the jeep explodes inexplicably.

No explanation necessary.

• "The Last Temptation Of Krust" - Krusty goes on a bender and ends up on the Flanders' yard. Bart finds him and drags him up to his room to recuperate him. He offers Krusty a Krusty Brand Eye Wash, but it causes Krusty to yell, "Ahhh! It burns!" He then refuses to use the Krusty Brand Cotton Swabs Bart offers him.
• "Viva Ned Flanders" - Ned Flanders reveals that he is sixty at Church, and the congregation asks him how he looks so young. Moe suggests that it's Holy Water, and swiftly splashes his face with the stuff. "Ahhh! It burns!" he says.
• "Das Bus" - The Springfield Elementary kids are stranded on an island after their bus crashes into the sea. While looking for food, Ralph eats poison berries and collapses. When asked how they taste, he responds, "They taste like... burning."
• "Beyond Blunderdome" - Homer test drives a new electric car with the family in order to score a free gift. He drives through the ocean and ends up wrecking the car, but grabs the prize before the dealership could see the condition of the car. The car sits on the ground, sparking and covered in seaweed. "Help, it burns!" screams the car.
• "30 Minutes Over Tokyo" - The Simpsons go on a brutal game show in Japan after losing all their money there. Events include the Lightning Round, in which Homer is tied to a large lightning rod and is repeatedly struck by lightning. The host, Wink, says, "He looks OK, but he is burning internally." Additionally, the family gets to retrieve their plane tickets home from a bridge across an active volcano. They all fall in the lava and end up on the studio floor, learning the lava is just orange-ade. Homer screams, "It burns! It burns!" because the orange-ade is loaded with Wasabi.
• "Faith Off" - After Brother Faith helps Bart remove a bucket of glue from Homer's head, Homer proclaims he sees the light, and that "it burns!"

Unfortunately, a lot of things in Springfield get destroyed one day before retirement.

• "Homer and Apu" - Homer and Kent Brockman set up a sting operation to uncover the truth about Apu's spoiled meat business. Homer wears a giant hat into the Kwik-E-Mart with a "hidden camera" and quickly smashes it when Apu suggests there's a bee in his bonnet. Brockman tells Homer that the hat had one day left until retirement.
• "Natural Born Kissers" - Homer and Marge sneak into their old love nest, which is actually a hollowed out windmill at a miniature golf course. While "doing their thing", a ball strikes them and the townspeople gather around the windmill to solve the missing ball problem. As they escape, Chief Wiggum lets a police dog sniff a discarded pair of underwear, at which the dog flees in disgust. Wiggum says, "What a shame. That dog had one day left till retirement."
• "Marge Simpson In: Screaming Yellow Honkers" - Marge gets a Canyonero along with a case of road rage. She accidentally crashes into a prison fence, releasing a number of prisoners. Wiggum says to her, "I hope you're happy, Simpson. Those prisoners were one day away from being completely rehabilitated." Yup, that one day would've made a big difference.
• "Homer To The Max" - Homer changes his name to Max Power and soon becomes a big hit with the upper-class crowd. He unwittingly joins a protest to stop a forest from being bulldozed, and the cops come to break them up. A tree falls in the chaos, creating a domino effect that knocks down all the trees and destroys a squad car. Wiggum says, "What a shame. That car had one day left until retirement."

"Let's get out of here!" is one of the most frequently used expressions in Springfield. Here are some examples.

• "Bart The Daredevil" - Bart tries a skateboard jump over a car. He falls and gets injured. After his "friends" find out he's hurt, Milhouse says, "Let's get out of here!" and they cowardly run away.
• "Radio Bart" - While digging a hole to save Bart from the well, Apu finds a dead canary in a cage. Willie screams, "Gas! Out of the hole!" and the diggers run out screaming. Later, Dr. Hibbert announces the bird died of natural causes. Willie yells, "Back in the hole!" and the group runs back in the hole screaming.
• "Lisa the Beauty Queen" - After Lisa informs the crowd at a football game that college football diverts funds that are needed for education, a bunch of upset nerds meekly jump onto the field and slowly rush the football players. One of them screams "Let's get out of here!" and the team retreats. A newspaper headline assures us the nerds were eventually pummeled.
• "New Kid On The Block" - The Simpsons' new neighbor, Laura, is playing a game of Wet Willie with Bart. Kearney and Dolph come along.

  Kearney: Hey, baby. Why don't you stick your finger in my ear?
  Laura: Well I don't know. Your girlfriend looks like the jealous type.
  Dolph: What the...? She's messing with our minds!
  Kearney: Let's get out of here!

• "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" - Bart, Milhouse, and Nelson are looking at Ned's trading cards of Bible characters. They find them interesting until Ned tells them they're about religion. Nelson screams, "Let's get out of here!" and the three boys scram.
• "Marge on the Lam" - Homer tries to steal a drink from a vending machine by weaving his arm through the slot, with Lenny and Carl looking on. Once he gets a hold of it, he realizes he's stuck. Carl says, "He's done for!" followed by Lenny who says, "Let's get out of here!" and the two run off screaming.
• "The Last Temptation Of Homer" - Homer and the guys at work fool around at the anti-contamination chamber. Homer uses a mechanical arm to pinch a worker's butt in the chamber, who drops a container on the floor, causing it to break. A green gas starts filling the room, rendering the worker unconscious. Carl says, "He's done for!" but Lenny says, "Don't worry, the glass will protect us." It doesn't.
• "Homer The Vigilante" - Wiggum and the other police are looking at a map to see which homes the Cat Burglar has hit. Wiggum rearranges the hits to find a pattern and forms an arrow, pointing directly at the police station. He screams, "Let's get out of here!" and they all run out.
• "Itchy & Scratchy Land" - Marge flashbacks to when the Simpsons went on vacation to Sandy Beach. Homer scares the swimmers with a shark fin on his back, only to have Bart come up beside him with the same fake shark fin. Knowing full well it's his son, Homer screams, "Shark Boy!" and dashes off.
• "Team Homer" - Homer tries to steal a bowling trophy from Burns' mansion, and is attacked by the hounds. His bowling teammates cheer him on, but when the dogs get to Homer, Moe says, "Run! Before they're through feeding!" And they run away.
• "Bart After Dark" - Bart tries to retrieve a remote-controlled airplane from the roof of a scary mansion. He falls to the ground and the "witch" owner of the house is upon him. Martin (along with the guys watching Bart) bravely says, "We've got to hurry!" After a pause, they all flee in terror.