There has been a very recent re-evaluation in the Southern California region of the system used in parts of Australia regarding wildfires--the stay-or-go policy. Either evacuate early, or stay and defend your homes. Although an evacuation-only policy has been spectacularly successful historically in terms of lives saved, considering the utter devastation of rather large swaths of some communities as we recently saw, authorities are considering ways that residents can help protect their homes. Although Southern California has huge fire fighting resources available by any measure, sometimes these fires move so quickly that they are stretched too thin in many instances.

Anyways, that topic could be a whole 'nother thread of its own.