Bush fires

It's full on summer here in Australia and so the concomitant bush fire season has started as well. There have been fires raging in the Southern Highlands and in north Sydney as well. It's a scary thing and a phenomenon I don't really understand. I don't get how people can live in semi-rural or rural bushland areas and have to deal with their lives and their property being at risk year in year out. How do these people deal with that recurring potential nightmare?

Another thing that strikes me as very odd is how some of these terrible fires are deliberately started by people who should know better. What sort of mindset would light a fire in this dry country, knowing how dangerous these fires can be? The mind boggles.