They talked about doing something with fuel; someone else said they were planning on using Molotov cocktails as anti-tank weapons. All such discussions occurred long before the fires actually started.
Regardless, there is ample evidence that the government, with malice aforethought, acted in a manner which could be expected to start a fire or contribute to its spread.
Finally, the point remains that the whole things started when government agents illegally conducted a no-knock raid and made zero effort or intention to lawfully serve a search warrant [even on a no-knock raid, a warrant is to be given to the occupant of the dwelling once things are under control; nobody on the BATF raid had a warrant, nor knew of anyone else having it]. I think it fair to regard the initial raid as a sine qua non of the final outcome.
they were talking about lighting HAY on fire and the discussions were taking place seconds before the FBI's IR equipment picked up the fires starting within seconds of each other in differant parts of the compound.
The cop killers started the fire, DEAL WITH IT
Ahem - it is Vernon Wayne Howell to whom these adjectives should be assigned, for he cared not a whit about his people, his *only* motive was remaining out of jail.
He succeeded.