Texas Officials Outline Approach to Tackle Fire Danger

Central Texas fire, forest and park officials on Monday presented the Austin Public Safety Commission with plans to transform the city into a community prepared for wildfire danger.

Austin firefighters began stepping up their recovery response efforts in 2009 to be better prepared for wildfires, a problem Fire Department Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr described at the meeting as "decades in the making and that isn't going away." In the wake of 2011's record-setting wildfire season, she and other officials now say they want to focus not only on emergency and restoration efforts, but also on preventive measures.

"We want to think about how do we become a wildfire community that is prepared rather than reactive?" she told commissioners and more than a dozen officials from the Austin Fire Department, the Texas Forest Service, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, and other agencies.

Among the measures fire officials discussed were enhanced training and fuel mitigation tools, such as prescribed burns that would allow authorities and homeowners to clear vegetation that could become fuel for wildfires. They also talked about ways to preserve ecosystems and wildlife, when firefighters and other authorities worked to clear overgrown grass, brush and trees in nature preserves and refuges.

The most important challenges facing the Austin Fire Department are finding a holistic approach to such fuel mitigation programs, increasing staffing and creating a sustained approach to wildfire programs, said Bob Nicks, president of the Austin Firefighters Association. He added that the department needed to consolidate its wildfire programs, as it has done with its efforts to create special operations and hazmat teams.

"We have to think about how to make sure these efforts are sustained," Nicks said. "There needs to be a division that continues this great work because it is that important."

The issues are particularly relevant as Austin spreads into the wildland urban interface, the place where development and nature meet, fire and environmental officials said. Kerr cited a recent study by Forbes magazine that listed Austin as the fastest expanding metropolis in the country, with projected growth of 6 percent per year through 2016, putting the city at a higher risk as residents move out into the Hill Country.

She said thunderstorms like the kind that have swept through the city in recent days would have to occur once a week for the entire summer for the city to feel some relief from the drought.

"Everybody in the community needs to do their part," she said. "We are not out of danger yet. I do not think we can ever relax our vigilance."

Contact Jazmine Ulloa at 445-3763

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