How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?

Only the right answer will support the conclusion that there isn’t really a paradox.

Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:

There is no conclusion in the passage. You can imagine another sentence at the end that says, ‘But this isn’t really a paradox, because [RIGHT ANSWER].’

[BACKGROUND]. Yet [BACKGROUND].

Like with pretty much any “explain” or “resolve” prompt, this passage makes a comparison. The right answer will address the same comparison between “long periods of severe drought” and “periods of relatively normal rainfall”.

Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:

(A) Fire departments tend to receive less funding…

The only money in the passage is the “financial damage” caused by fires. Fire department funding is never mentioned or referenced, so you’d have to add in your own reasoning to make a connection between that and the comparison in the passage.

(B) …tend to be less densely populated…

This is comparing “areas” where fires happen to “areas” where they don’t. That doesn’t map to the comparison in the passage, which is between “periods” of drought and “periods” of rainfall. It also brings in population density, which doesn’t map to anything stated in the passage.

(C) …large, hard-to-control grass and brush fires typically occur only when…

This answer makes the same comparison as the passage, but in a kind of tricky way. You recognize it’s about “when” fires happen, just like the passage. Since we know there are more fires when there’s drought, we know there would be less “vegetation for them to consume”. If the worst fires only happen when there isn’t a drought, that could definitely explain why there’s “less financial damage” during drought times.

(D) …tend to be started by lightning.

Cool story, but we aren’t trying to explain how fires get started. The passage is only concerned with comparing the effects, not the cause. This doesn’t connect directly to why there would be “less financial damage” from fires during drought times.

(E) …vegetation that is equally if not more flammable

If you wanted to pick this, I bet you’re adding in some pretty fancy mental footwork to make any connection between how flammable vegetation is and the fact that there’s “less financial damage” during droughts. That’s a completely different comparison from the one made in the passage, so it doesn’t really explain the difference between periods of drought and periods of normal rainfall.

(C) is the correct answer.