Residents were given the opportunity to ask questions during a Q&A segment with Precinct 3 Commissioner Ann Howard; LTFR Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Dustin Dunn; Jennifer Riechers, general manager of the West Travis County Public Utility Agency; and Gabe Mahlum, the parkland resource manager with Travis County Parks.
The overview
Reference was made at several points during the event to recent wildfires in Los Angeles. LTFR Fire Chief Robert Abbott, who moderated the event, stated that although wildfire risk is high in the Lake Travis area, a widely circulated CoreLogic report that shows Austin having the fifth-highest wildfire risk in the country actually refers primarily to insurable losses, which are high in the region due to high property values, rather than environmental conditions.
The department typically prefers to reference Texas A&M’s modeling system to assess local wildfire risk, Abbott said. This system currently shows the Lake Travis region facing a moderate risk of wildfires.
Given the risk, Abbott stressed the need for residents to prepare their own homes and properties for potential fires. Removing debris and dead plants or leaves, replacing wood chip mulch with rock when possible, and replacing eaves made of flammable materials like compressed cardboard were all suggestions shared by the chief and members of the panel.
“Mitigating the structure itself and the immediate area around the structure is the most important aspect of preventing structure loss in these types of wildfires,” Dunn said, referring to the 2011 Texas fires as well as recent fires in California. “The materials that you choose for your home, ideally extremely durable noncombustible materials, go a really long way to protect the structure from embers that are being thrown from the wildfire.”
What else?
Although Travis County does not currently provide tax breaks for fire mitigation efforts by homeowners, Howard said the county is interested in pursuing that idea further.
“An incentive I’d like to work on [is] money for people to replace their wooden fences with a different kind of material,” Howard said. “[They have] been described as match sticks that connect one house to the other, so it’s pretty common sense.”
Additionally, Howard said that the county is currently looking into grants offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for wildfire mitigation. Some communities have received nearly $10 million in funds from the department to strengthen local fire mitigation efforts, Howard said.
Also of note
Abbott also stated that LTFR is interested in working more closely with local homeowners associations, such as Rough Hollow HOA, to strengthen local fire mitigation efforts. Additionally, Abbott mentioned that the department would like to work with these HOAs to address threats posed by fireworks.
A recording of the full town hall, which includes discussion of several other questions posed by residents, can be found online.
