Puzzling it is, and perhaps on more counts than
Richard Vobes mentions.
For the suggested purpose a slightly assisted natural
wildfire would have done as well and better. A bad wolf
might have wanted to try out a new toy. But what toy?
Anything cosmic or airborne would have stood in need
of sufficient energy in the first place.
Has anyone heard of a flying garden of solar panels?
Or do we think nuclear?
Perhaps sth beamed up and reflected by some natural
mirror -- possibly a concave one?
Targeting from afar thousands of individual houses?
Slapping the spot in its entirety would not have spared
the roads and the trees, would it?
Slapping with sth initially affecting only conductors?
Any pictures of overhead power lines?
To complete the circle: a ground job made to appear
hyper-high-tech?
By the way, hardly a day passes without a report of a
-- to my mind -- poorly explained fire, especially in
Russia.