WILDFIRES Rising From Jan. 1-June 30 of 2022, more wild and grass res have occurred in Williamson and Travis counties than January-June for any year since 2018.
Density and location of incidents for Jan. 1-Aug. 18, 2022
1431
Low Moderate Severe
95
LEANDER
HUTTO
ROUND ROCK
Travis County ESD No.2
Jan. 1-June 30
108
120 90 60 30 0
35
183A TOLL
79
130 TOLL
183
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
CEDAR PARK
45 TOLL
Williamson County
Jan. 1-June 30
PFLUGERVILLE
522
MOPAC
600 450 300 150 0
N
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
jurisdiction, it only took six weeks, from the beginning of July to mid-Au- gust, for the number of wild and grass res to nearly double from 68 to 111. Glaiser said the higher number of grass and wild re calls his depart- ment has responded to this year has much to do with population growth. “You have more people, and so you have more chances for an accident,” he said. For the most part, local re chiefs said small grass res are the most prevalent. They also cited the large number of re incidents as the main issue this year. In Cedar Park, Cedar Park Fire Department Chief James Mallinger said while the department has responded to 34 local res in the rst six months of 2022—more than any other rst half of the year in the last ve years—only one large incident
has occurred, a 15-acre re o East Whitestone Boulevard. Similarly, data from the George- town Fire Department show it responded to 209 res in the rst seven months of this year, including 87 res in July. This is about double the number of res GFD responded to in any single year from 2018-2021. Areas that are sparsely populated and less developed, such as unincor- porated Williamson County and the outlying areas in Travis County ESD No. 2, are where res are eating up more acreage, local chiefs said. From January through July, Wil- liamson County has received 692 calls for “outside” and “vegetation” res, already surpassing last year’s total 526 calls and rivaling the number of calls seen all year in 2020 and 2018, which had 761 and 736 calls, respectively. Despite this increase, Michael
Shoe, Williamson County director of Emergency Management, said the county has been successful at quickly responding to res, in large part due to state and national help. Shoe said for the San Gabriel Fire, responders from nearly every state in the U.S. were at the scene. “Normally we don’t have this, but because this year was supposed to be a real high re danger for our state, they were all brought in here,” Shoe said. Locally, most cities and counties sign mutual aid agreements with one another, and re chiefs said they often help at res outside their imme- diate jurisdiction. Perkins said the stark increase in incidents this year compared with other years is historic. “We’re running, at least, a wild re every day,” Perkins said. “This is rang- ing all the way from a grass re on
SOURCES: TRAVIS COUNTY EMERGENCY SERVICES DISTRICT NO. 2, WILLIAMSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
CONTINUED FROM 1 of dry conditions persist locally and statewide, area re ghters and weather and climate experts maintain the situation could get worse. As one example of the proli c inci- dents of grass and wild res in the area, Travis County ESD No. 2 Chief Nicholas Perkins said his department has responded to more than 100 calls from January to August, which is more than any year in the last decade. “And I think what’s adding to it is that everyone [in the region] is expe- riencing this,” Perkins said. Wild res spike locally Round Rock Fire Department Chief Shane Glaiser said that in his
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