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I would actually guess that biggest risk is internal. Either faulty wiring, appliance or simple user error in kitchen or with live fire. Entire neighbourhoods burning in general is rare event.

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Don't know about the us but here we have fire breaks everywhere in the form of low depth waterways (non navigable). They also act as backup water reserves when the mains runs dry. So by design only parts of the neighborhood will burn down.

Yep, those exist across the western US too. I think many people are underestimating the scale and intensity of the winds California experienced. A single house on fire with relatively regular weather conditions isn't likely to spread to others - despite the "ha American houses dumb and wood" sentiment on this topic, there are building codes and fire safety is absolutely considered. But the Santa Ana winds are extremely dry and extremely powerful.

It's a hard engineering problem to solve, but an increasingly urgent one now that these major events are becoming more intense and frequent.

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