Reportedly the guy has mental health issues. Hes not a raving loony but hes not the full deck either. There will always be some of these people just as there are always some very good and very bright (often dont coincide) They used to remove such who got up to such mischief from the gene pool and the community with a rope. Mental illness is different from physical illness in the the mentally ill are usually in denial and resist treatment.
We have to expect that as soon as we get rid of one dangerous nut another will come along. The old bell curve at work.
What can we do? Independent action. Protect ourselves by being wise about fuel reduction, plantings and shelter. Read the other day that there are more than 1 billion lightning strikes a year around the planet, the heat of the air around a strike is eight times hotter than the surface of the Sun. So fire will result if conditions are there. Nothing at all we can do about it.
We cant stop it starting, but we can reduce the chances of being wiped out by it a great deal, both individually and as communities. Grazing down fuel near assets such as homes is one old tried and true method, another is not having native trees and shrubs anywhere close to your house. Most are fire adapted and explode in a fire. Wattles use fire to spread their seeds, others need fire to open the seed pods. Having trees close to your house that drop leaves all year make fire fodder.
A fire bunker in case stay with the house defence is failing is easy to make well in advance. You need at the minimum a capacious pit with a roof and earth over it, and a fire resistant door entered via a covered trench. Like a backyard bombshelter. Pretty easy. Only need it for a half hour or so in an inferno event. Good place to store the home brew and wine too. If you have to use it youll be so plastered by the time you come out you will feel no pain for a while anyway.
