Inevitability of a fire

Regardless of how the current 416 fire started, was this fire inevitable?

Lightning strikes cause fires. Sparks from just about anything can cause a fire. Was this a wildfire just waiting to happen? Meaning, the conditions were so ripe for a wildfire, it was just a matter of when and not if?

My son-in-law is a fireman and from what I have learned from him fires do strange things and are unpredictable. I've seen him freak out about things being a fire hazard and stop what he is doing and rectify the situation or at least communicate to someone the danger of leaving things the way they are. He'd much rather offend someone than have to rush into their home or place of business and fight a fire.

Could the removal of underbrush, not the trees themselves, have lessened the impact of the fire?

My uncle who was a forest ranger told me regularly wildfires were natures way of giving itself a bath. Awful metaphor, but the forests do renew.