I am not Jerry but I submit your question kind of answers your lines of thinking. Unless gas, kerosene or some other highly combustible substance is present where the “spark” lands, it will not burst into a flame in a second, even in the driest materials. It is my experience that dry, ignition materials do not burst into flame in one second. A match to paper or grass takes a few seconds to ignite and if with a spark, it takes much longer.
My point is, the eyewitness report is an example of looking at the statement and seeing that it is factually not possible, therefore it is not accurate.
Granted, this doesn’t change that it has now been recorded as fact. Which is problematic and disappointing.
Phil