As I mentioned, this was an untypical problem, and I did not get as many responses 😦 The ones who responded correctly included Girish Tutakne, Suman Saraf and Neeraj Aggarwal+Anisha Goyal as a team over the lunch table!
Solution is as follows:
The man picks up a piece of wood and lights it from the fire on the west end of the island.
He then quickly carries it near the east end of he island and starts a new fire. The wind will cause that fire to burn out the eastern end and he can then shelter in the burnt area.
The man survives the fire, but dies of starvation, with all the food in the forest burnt!
Hope you all enjoyed the puzzle.