This piece was originally published in Grist and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. As fires consume more than 3 million acres across the Golden State this year, state and local governments are drawing on their experience responding to blazes over the past decade, which has seen year after year of massive wildfire virulence. When the Thomas Fire hit California’s central coast nearly three years ago, it was then the second largest wildfire in the state’s history, raging for more than 40 days and scorching 440 square miles.