What you need to know
Brad Bailey, chair of The Woodlands Township's board of directors, added the emergency item to the Jan. 16 meeting agenda following calls from residents to board members and township staff regarding whether The Woodlands was adequately prepared in the event of a wildfire.
"We are ready to combat any fire at The Woodlands Fire Department," The Woodlands Fire Chief Palmer Buck said. "With respect to wildfire, The Woodlands' topography and infrastructure provide certain advantages to combat a wildfire."
The details
Buck said there were three main factors that make it unlikely The Woodlands area would see a wildfire similar to those in Los Angeles, which have burned over 40,000 acres as of mid-January, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The major inhibitors of a widespread wildfire include:
- Topography: Buck said The Woodlands only sits between 125-175 feet above sea level, whereas the LA fires occurred between sea level and 10,000 feet above.
- Rainfall averages: Buck told board members the Los Angeles area only received one-sixteenth of an inch of rain in an eight-month period. "That's just something that we don't see," he said.
- Natural barriers: Another factor is the number of creeks, ponds, roadways and other natural barriers in the township which could prevent wildfires from spreading, Buck said.
Looking ahead
The only area of potential concern identified by Buck was the George Mitchell Nature Preserve, where Buck said the township can look into potential underbrush mitigation through prescribed burns similar to those regularly held in the W.G Jones State Forest.
