Leander leaders assess risk, utilize Firewise program for prevention
Since August, Wildland-Urban Interface Specialist Will Boettner of the Texas A&M Forest Service has been assessing the risk wildfires pose to homes and businesses in Leander.
His findings will be included in the city's Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a report being compiled in conjunction with the Leander Fire Department that outlines potential fire hazards and opportunities for improvement.
"We are focusing on coming up with strategies for fire prevention in Leander, strategies for mitigation and strategies for—if, god forbid a fire should break out—how [the Leander Fire Department] needs to respond to that," Boettner said. "Basically it's coming up with a preattack plan."
In the plan the forest service and LFD note potential neighborhood-wide hazards such as limited emergency access, flammable vegetation near structures, and architectural features that could easily collect embers and ignite a building, LFD Assistant Fire Chief Joshua Davis said. LFD wants to help homeowners create a defensible and survivable space around their property.
"Part of putting together the Community Wildfire Protection Plan is going ... out to reach each one of these communities, get eyes on the ground and create an assessment based on what currently exists," he said. "It's a scoring structure that can put [the neighborhood] in a comfortable position to say, 'We're doing things great, or there are other improvements we can do like clearing brush.'"
Firewise in Leander
The protection plan is expected to be complete by the end of the year, Davis said, and will be used in conjunction with the city's existing Firewise Communities Program. Firewise, developed by the National Fire Protection Association, gives property owners and homebuilders guidelines on how to protect a structure from a wildfire and recognition for communities that adopt fire-safe practices, construction and landscaping standards.
"The idea of Firewise started based on programs coming out of Australia, [which] has apocalyptic wildfires on a regular basis," Boettner said. "They came up with these techniques and principles to do what is called home hardening, which basically is making a house as resistant to external fire as possible."
The Firewise program recommends minimizing elements that could fuel a fire, such as dry leaves, wooden fences and shrubs, near the home. Many Firewise tips, such as cleaning gutters, watering vegetation and removing items stored under decks or on patios, are relatively easy and inexpensive, Boettner said.
"Firewise is designed for the individual property owner. You typically do not have to do a bunch of work to your house [to align with Firewise]," he said. "You as a property owner need to take personal responsibility to harden up your home because there is nothing you can do about what goes on outside of your property."
In addition to using the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code—which supplements local fire regulations in wildfire-prone areas—the city incorporates many Firewise tips in its ordinances, Davis said.
"The city strongly encourages developers to create noncombustible connections to a combustible fence or structure," Davis said. "One of the things we saw in the big fires we had in 2011 was the fire extended from the wooden fence to the structure and then ignited the structure."
Rebuilding after wildfires
In August and September 2011, wildfires destroyed 26 homes in Leander, including 15 structures near Horseshoe Drive and 11 near Moon Glow Drive. Four of the lots on Moon Glow Drive were purchased by Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County with the goal to build affordable housing for local families.
"The properties were purchased from individual families who had lost their homes and found other places to live," said Debbie Hoffman, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County. "We have a partnership for funding through Williamson County's Community Development Block Grant. With those funds we are able to purchase properties that we wouldn't be able to [buy] otherwise."
In February, Habitat marked the completion of its first home in Leander on Moon Glow and gave the keys to the home's new owners. Nicole Vommaro, resource development director for Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County, said the organization is working to raise $68,000 by January to start construction on a second home at 1008 Moon Glow Drive.
"We're in search of corporate sponsors, businesses and individual partners who can help us with financial donations or in-kind goods and services," she said. "If a business was able to donate all of the roof or the drywall, cabinets, foundation ... that is a component of the financial piece that we can take out of the overall cost. If a business partner would donate those services and the materials as well, that would be a key contribution in order to get the house started."
Vommaro said Habitat aims to start construction on the third Moon Glow property in late 2015 or early 2016 and begin work on the final Moon Glow property late in 2016.
