They had a whole bunch of lasers like that where I used to work, including one that could do 8KW! Some 3rd shift employees (I did not witness this as I worked 1st shift, but was told about it) actually opened the dock door and tried to burn the warehouse across the street with one of those lasers! Supposedly they put a scorch mark on the wall of the building, this was far enough away that the divergence made it impossible for the beam to do too much damage. I guess that was a good thing considering that this company is right next to the county airport!
Yes, this is the sort of thing you could do some damage with, and I don't think I'd want to try and light (or vaporize) a match if I had to hold it in my hand! You should see what happens when one of these lasers blasts a piece of plywood - yes there's flames and I don't mean a little smoke and a little tiny flame - I mean 3 foot high flames and lots of smoke! Then there was the guy who lost his finger tip to one of the 5KW lasers. He didn't just burn his fingertip - it was totally vaporized, bone, flesh and all. And the laser beam wasn't even fully focused down to a point because it was used for heat-treating metal. Imagine if you had a laser pointer that could do that! Then you're truly in Star Wars territory...at least for now.
I swear I wish I had had a video camera when I worked at that place...it makes the sorts of lasers we cut and burn with look like childrens' toys.