Smaug blasts Lake-Town.
This post is gonna be short. it's just an explanation of why we can know Smaug really does emit ten-kiloton-blasts in the Hobbit films.
Eric Saindon, who worked on the VFX for Smaug, states in this interview:
"Starting with the internal glow inside his chest and neck, Smaug creates a fuel-based fire that ignites deep in the throat of the dragon and bursts forth with terrifying power. Created with an in-house fire simulation tool, Odin, the output of the larger fire blasts registered just over 10 Kilotons of TNT."
Now, that's roughly two-thirds of the yield of Little Boy. How can this be, you may ask, without Smaug vaporizing Lake-Town with a single blast?
This alleged problem comes from a misinterpretation of the term "kilotons". It refers to the energy contained in thousands of tons of TNT. Smaug's breath has every bit that much energy—here's a calc showing it makes sense. It just isn't released as quickly and efficiently as the energy of a bomb. It's the same energy as a 10-kT bomb, but used differently.
So as a raw figure, 10 kilotons is fine. It's supported by both statements by the people who spent hours modeling/animating it, and by calcs. Just remember that it doesn't refer to explosives. Can he melt huge amounts of rock with his breath? Absolutely. Can he level a city with one shot? No, because his firepower is spread out over about 20 seconds and anyway is released differently.
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