California wildfires on the cusp of burning 4 million acres so far this year

Wildfires have burned an unprecedented swath of destruction in California this year, scorching nearly 4 million acres — an area larger than Connecticut — and killing 31 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Previously, California’s worst year of fire was 2018, when more than 1.8 million acres were burned and more than 100 people were killed, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. Fires this year have destroyed more than 8,200 structures and, as of Friday, had displaced more than 53,000 from their homes. The property damage toll has not yet approached that of 2018, when more than 17,000 homes and 700 businesses were destroyed....