As everyone knows, St George, the noble knight, slew the dragon and saved the people of the town from the dangers of giant, flying reptiles but there are few stories about the unforeseen consequences of his actions.
World War One British Army Recruitment Poster featuring St George and the Dragon
Roofers - the unseen victims
Of all those affected by the Dragon, roofers suffered in many ways. Like the remainder of the townsfolk, they were in danger of being killed, roasted or eaten by the dragon (or even all three) but even when the Dragon wasn't attacking, they were also affected.
While there was a scourge of Dragons, the roofers had plenty of work, indeed, probably too much. Every job needed all the rafters and battens replacing as well as all the tiles and every time the roofers did their job, they were in the most exposed position and were in the greatest danger from €œdeath from above€.
We can also assume that, with so many people needing work, the roofers had difficulties in sourcing so many of their supplies and were under great pressure from their clients to either finish the job as quickly as possible or to give them a firm date for when the repairs could start.
The Roofs
As everyone knows, Dragons breathe fire and have a tendency to swoop around the sky spot-roasting people and houses at will.
At the time of the original legend, in Britain there was mostly thatched roofs but even with tile roofs, there seems to be little that could shrug off the flames. Their power is such that even with modern weapons, the population in Reign of Fire could do little but watch as their cities looked like they had suffered from years of bombardment
In this scene from The Hobbit the damage from the fire is clearly seen on tile roofed buildings and even on watchtowers (that you would assume were hardened against attacks)
As the original story is located in Libya, there would have also been a lot of flat roofs which would have survived no better. Although EPDM rubber based flat roof coatings (https://www.jjroofingsupplies.co.uk/flat-roofingclassicbond-edpm.html) and GRP systems (https://www.jjroofingsupplies.co.uk/flat-roofinggrp-products.html ) weren't available at the time, the bitumenous coatings that they might have used would have faired little better, melting under the intense heat.
What might have worked a little better would be using thick and sturdy Promenade Tiles (https://www.jjroofingsupplies.co.uk/flat-roofingpromenade-tiles-slabs.html ) which would have provided a good layer of thermal insulation and reduced the surface area which the air was in contact with, making it more difficult for the bitumen to get close to combustion temperatures.
Customer Complaints
All this lead to a huge number of customer complaints but whereas only poor quality roofers in the UK get complains about things (like rain and wind) getting through the roof, the roofers in the St George story had their customers complain that their roof wasn't keeping out the Dragon or the billowing flames that it created.
This is a little unfair on the roofers as, even today, there isn't a British Standard which guarantees that a roof will keep out a fully grown Dragon or a flamethrower.
The Bubble and the Crash
The demand for new roofs put a great economic stress on the roofers who were forced to keep expanding their business to keep up with the Dragon-caused demand. While the Dragon was active, the banks were very willing to supply loans to acquire increasingly rare, ever more expensive roofing materials but St George's unilateral action burst the economic bubble in an instant.
This wasn't like the earlier case of Beowulf where, after the monster Grendel was killed, Grendel's mother remained a threat. George killed the only Dragon in the area and the demand for new roofs disappeared almost immediately and everyone knew it wasn't coming back. (It's also worth noting that in the Beowulf story, he is eventually fatally wounded when he's required to kill a Dragon)
Conclusion
While St George is fetted (by everyone except the RSPCA and animal rights organisations) and the general population only benefitted by the defeat of the Dragon, spare a thought for the roofer, the truest, bravest and most ignored hero of the whole story.
