Travis County Judge Andy Brown and Mayor Kirk Watson held a joint news conference Monday to announce that each had signed disaster declarations related to wildfire risk.
“On Friday I signed a disaster declaration,” Brown said. “It will allow Travis County to proactively access resources, streamline emergency coordination (and) reinforce wildfire prevention efforts.”
According to Watson, the preemptive disaster declaration also allows public safety workers to start tracking expenses and facilitates reimbursement from the federal or state government if a wildfire occurs.
“Austin now ranks fifth in the nation in the number of homes facing wildfire risks,” Watson said. He noted that he had signed the declaration on Friday because of current dry conditions and the high risk of fire in the area.
Brown issued a similar declaration for Travis County. He noted that there were two fires on Sunday, both of which local firefighters were able to contain. The bigger of the two, a brushfire on Saturday was, according to Brown, “swiftly contained” by a number of agencies, including ESD 11 and representatives of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, the Austin Fire Department and others.
“This September… was the fifth driest on record. We got some really good rains over the summer, but that has pretty stopped for now,” he said, noting the dry conditions that make the Central Texas area so vulnerable to wildfires.
The most important message from Watson and Brown was that area residents should be prepared in case a wildfire occurs in their neighborhood. Both urged residents to sign up with Warn Central Texas, which allows officials to notify residents if there is a wildfire in their area. Watson said residents can ask for a free “structural ignition zone evaluation” from the Austin Fire Department. During the evaluation a wildfire expert will walk the exterior of your home with you to offer guidance about how to strengthen the home against wildfire in addition to giving advice about evacuation and preparatory actions to take when conditions are favorable for wildfires.
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