wfasa on "[Plugin: Wordfence Security] 6.1.5 Error Updating Web Application Firewall: php_value not allowed here"

After updating to v6.1.5, Wordfence tells me it needs to update the .htaccess file. The update itself works (i.e. the .htaccess file is written), but I now get an error (and my site goes dark):

[Fri May 06 10:29:33 2016] [alert] [client ###.###.###.###] /is/htdocs/######/www/.htaccess: php_value not allowed here, referer: http://####/wp-admin/admin.php?page=WordfenceWAF&wafAction=configureAutoPrepend¤tAutoPrepend

I guess my web hoster does not like the .htaccess file to contain the php_value statement ... anything I can do?

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/

Hello benchpress,
this is a restriction your web host has set on your account so that it can not use php_value. Can you contact them and see if they can change it for you?

If your site is still down to get it back up quickly rename the folder "wordfence" in your WordPress plugins directory and remove any directives related to "Wordfence WAF" from .htaccess.