What we don't see here is that Tom tripped over the iron ball that was shackled to Charlie's leg. The resulting stumble made the maul miss the cuffs completely, only to strike the iron ball. The resulting spark set the dry swamp grass on fire near the base of the wood pile. They would have got it out in short order had it not first reached the bottle of jack the two of them had hid out there, actually the real reason for being at the wood pile to begin with.
The resulting conflagration quickly burned most of the hair from their heads, which they had to wrap heavily in gauze.
PLEASE BE A GOOD AMERICAN! DO NOT TYPE CAST OTHERS JUST BECAUSE OF THIER DRESS!