July 06--Photos and videos of fast-moving, all-consuming wildfires flashed across the screen Friday while two dozen San Antonio firefighters got their first lesson in preparing for the kind of blaze that devastated Bastrop in 2011 and that experts say could hit San Antonio just as easily.
Only about three hands in the crowd shot up when Capt. Guy Duncan -- whose full-time job is making sure the department can respond to a wildfire with a coordinated, polished approach -- asked who among them lived in an "urban-wildland interface," where nature meets municipality.
"Actually, you all do. There's not a spot in San Antonio that's not a wildland-urban interface," he said, reminding them that the threat of wildfires isn't diminishing anytime soon. "It's going to happen, it's here."
Duncan estimated that about half of the department's 1,650 firefighters have been through his three-hour class so far, and the rest will be done by next month. After that, all firefighters will complete a 32-hour course in basic wildland firefighting that will include field training.
Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association, said San Antonio is among a very few departments that requires this training, though it's a growing trend.
"SAFD is taking proactive steps to help with a growing problem we are having in Texas," he wrote in an email. "We are seeing more and more municipal fire departments cross-train their firefighters ... especially as cities grow and have to deal more with interface issues between homes and the wildland environment."
A big component of being prepared for a wildfire, is making sure homeowners do what they can to minimize risks on their property, Duncan said, and recommended that homeowners visit firewise.org for tips.
Shaky video from a 2011 fire in Austin showed how complex wildfires can be -- flames engulfing homes on either side of a tree-lined street while simultaneously, a grass fire sends embers into the sky.
Robert Dieckow is president of the Green Spring Valley homeowners association on the North Side and said Duncan came to the 522-home neighborhood last year to do a fire-danger assessment and make suggestions for improvements, a free service that any resident can request of the Fire Department.
"We have a 34-acre nature park and residents wanted us to develop a fire prevention plan after Bastrop," he said, adding that resident Jerry Conway, who has 15 years of firefighting, experience now is in charge of the three-phase project.
Conway said the plan calls for clearing away fallen trees and underbrush in the area without compromising the habitat for the wildlife. Homeowners however, he said, for the most part have not been proactive in making their homes safer.
"People are still asleep," he said. "But it's like a business or anything else, you have to market it, you have to get the word out that there are a lot of things they could do to better themselves."
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