AFD narrows its wildfire preparedness focus on Eastern Crescent

Ahead of national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on May 4, the Public Safety Commission this week heard an update on how Austin is faring with its own community readiness efforts.

The good news is that Austin leads the state in its number of “Firewise” communities – a designation given by the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA program.

The rest of the news is still in development. Taking its directions from a 2016 City Council resolution, the Austin Fire Department’s Wildfire Division continues working with high-risk areas to develop local Community Wildfire Protection Plans. These individualized plans include such preventive measures as fuel mitigation, emergency response and emergency evacuations.

In the April 1 briefing, AFD Wildfire Mitigation Officer Justice Jones told commissioners that 23 community wildfire plans have been completed and largely implemented.

“That doesn’t mean these communities are done,” Jones said. “That means they’ve checked off the initial list of recommendations in the plan, and now they’re going back to the drawing board and revising those plans and finding out what they need to do next to … create a fire environment that lends itself to our operational success.”

About 51 percent of Austin’s highest-risk wildfire areas are covered by a plan, Jones said, while 49 percent have been identified as “opportunity zones.”

Commissioner Rebecca Bernhardt noted that nearly all the areas identified as opportunity zones are located east of MoPac Expressway, which, she said, “is really problematic.”

Jones agreed that AFD’s outreach efforts to communities west of MoPac have been made easier by the existence of homeowners associations, which are more prevalent in communities in the western reaches of the city.

“This is a challenge that the nation is facing,” Jones said of wildfire outreach efforts in communities that don’t have the organizational structure of HOAs or the grassroots astuteness of established neighborhood associations. For that reason, he said, “we’ve engaged with community groups like GAVA (Go Austin/Vamos Austin) and the city Equity Office to help us understand how to reach other vulnerable populations across the community through, for example, our wildfire preparedness town hall meetings, or our (May 4) symposium.”

Based on feedback the wildfire team has received from community groups, Jones said, “We’re not convinced that ‘Firewise’ is the program for all of our constituents at risk. So we’re addressing this from the standpoint of individual preparedness. First, everyone should have access to information to understand their wildfire risk and the potential impacts. That’s our first line of defense, that personal responsibility.”

Still, Bernhardt wanted more assurance that the city is making direct contact with vulnerable populations.

“I’m really concerned that this whole system relies on people reaching out to y’all,” she said. “That’s a huge percentage of the folks that we should be worried about dying in a fire. And that’s what we’re talking about after Maui, and after Paradise, California.”

Jones said the wildfire mitigation team is exploring a range of communication strategies, such as targeting communities through direct mail.

“What we’re hoping will be most effective is (communication) through the existing community groups that already have networks with these individuals and have that trust within these communities,” Jones said.

The upcoming symposium could be a starting point for building on that trust. The annual event takes place 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Rosewood-Zaragosa Neighborhood Center, 2800 Webberville Road.

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