Travis County to launch new system for alerting residents of increased wildfire conditions

Beginning June 1, the Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office will move local burn ban notifications to a new system, enabling residents to opt-in by texting TCBURNBAN to 888777.

The details

The new system will transition from the county’s internal alert platform to Warn Central Texas, a free, opt-in service that will provide notifications when:

• A burn ban is issued
• A burn ban is lifted
• A Red Flag Warning is declared due to high fire danger conditions

Critical life safety alerts are automatically pushed through the Warn Central Texas system using a regional database of cell phone numbers, covering up to 70% of phones in the 10-county area. No sign-up is needed to receive those.

For other types of alerts—like burn bans or Red Flag Warnings—residents need to opt in by signing up by texting or at WarnCentralTexas.org. These alerts are not sent automatically to avoid overwhelming people with notifications, Brotherton said.

The change being implemented will shift from the county’s manual burn ban phone list—previously managed through the Fire Marshal’s website—to the centralized Warn Central Texas platform. The previous alert system had roughly 50,000 subscribers, Travis County Fire Marshal Gary Howell told Commissioners.

Now, instead of signing up on a separate county list, residents can subscribe to burn ban and Red Flag Warning alerts directly through Warn Central Texas.

Terms to know

A Red Flag Warning is issued by the National Weather Service to alert the public and fire management agencies that conditions are ideal for wildfires to ignite and spread rapidly. These warnings are typically issued when a combination of factors—such as low humidity, strong winds, and dry vegetation—create a high fire risk within the next 24 hours.

When a Red Flag Warning is issued, fire management agencies often encourage the public to take extra precautions, such as avoiding use of lawn mowers on dry vegetation, avoid driving vehicles in tall, dry grass, ensure trailer chains do not drag on the ground and dispose of cigarettes properly.

Why it matters

On April 10, Austin City Council adopted changes to its Wildland-Urban Interface, or WUI, code, showing an increase in the amount of Austin at risk of wildfire where vegetation meets urbanization.

More than half of all structures in the Austin-area fall within the WUI, per city data. While more populated areas are less susceptible to wildfires, brush fires are still common due to local greenbelts and parks.

Over the past five years, the Austin Fire Department has responded to 7,521 wildfire calls within its service area, paired with an additional 3,270 calls in other parts of Travis County, according to AFD data.