Interesting story; it calls the grass “alien”, but does not identify where the grass came from. Sort of like, “mistakes were made, but nobody made them”.
It is called “cheat grass,” greens up early with spring rains and browns out early summer, leaving fine dry tinder that can catch even a spark and spread ra[idly into a wildfire. Marshall Fire in Colorado iirc 2021 destroyed a whole suburb in what was a similarly wind-whipped grass fire.