BY AMANDA CUTSHALL & DARCY SPRAGUE
The big picture
Texas wildfires by year
There are several factors that contribute to the severity of a wildfire season, said Kari Hines, resources protection specialist for the Texas A&M Forest Service. Small fires that control vegetation are part of maintaining a healthy landscape, Hines said. But more than 150 years ago, the United States began extinguishing these fires. As the planet warms and thus dries, people alter the landscape through development and brush is left to build up, wildfire danger increases, O’Connor said. Just over 87% of Bastrop residents live in a Wildland Urban Interface area, according to a 2022 report from the county. WUI are places where devel- opments meet open grasslands where wildfires are most likely to occur. From 2005-2020, about 2,000 fires occurred in Bastrop County, according to the report. A 2008 report from the most recent specifically on wildfires—found the county faces multiple chal- lenges with wildfire response. The 2008 report identified several concerns for wildfire management within the county, including lack of homeowner education about mitigation, lack of firefighting resources, development patterns, and inadequate emergency access and exits in neighborhoods. Three years ago, the firefighting departments throughout Bastrop County—including Emergency
35,000
Central Texas faced severe drought conditions that led to large fires.
28,000
21,000
14,000
7,000
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
SOURCE: TEXAS A&M FOREST SERVICE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Since the 2011 fire, Bastrop County built another exit route from Tahitian Village, a large neighborhood that experienced a high volume of traffic during that emergency. The process was costly, took years and required using eminent domain laws to get the prop- erty, Altgelt said, which are indicators of challenges the county would face in trying to address similar issues in other neighborhoods. Altgelt said, for example, the county applied for a multimillion-dollar federal grant to build another bridge over the Colorado River to increase emergency routes, but the county did not receive the grant.
“The people who are out there doing this land management are extremely passionate about trying to do the best thing possible not just for fire risk reduction but for habitat creation and drought resiliency … and community protection comes with that,” Hines said. In the event of a future fire, Altgelt said residents will be notified through social media and emergency notification systems, such as Warn Central Texas. In an evacuation, first responders would go door-to-door to notify residents. The county can also send push notifications similar to Amber Alerts and send messages over the National Weather Service radio. “Although the [2011] wildfire was a difficult time for our family, the outpouring of love and support from the community was overwhelming. ... Bastrop truly became our home,” Cox said. Services Departments 1 and 2, the Smithville Fire Department and more—formed a task force. This group activates during periods of high wildfire risk, said James Altgelt, emergency management coordinator for the BCOEM. The departments take shifts during this time to keep firefighting resources on standby and dedicated to only wildfire responses. Altgelt said this has been instrumental in ensuring adequate resources reach fires early. One concern was that more than 70 neighborhoods lacked adequate evacuation entrances and exits or had other issues, such as lack of space to turn around. Altgelt said that number has grown since the report.
What’s next
Residents can prepare their homes by: Cleaning roofs and gutters Repairing/replacing missing roof tiles and broken window screens Installing mesh in exterior vents to prevent embers from entering Moving any flammable material away from wall exteriors, such as mulch, flammable plants and firewood piles Creating fuel breaks with driveways, walkways and paths, patios and decks, and space between clumps of vegetation Keeping lawns mowed to a height of 4 inches Removing vegetation under trees as well as removing dead plants and trees
Going forward, Altgelt said the county is exploring ways to address current needs for emergency routes and considering development code updates to set certain requirements for entrances/exits. Both the county and the state are also looking to mitigate future risk by caring for the land. At the county level, Altgelt said there is a program where the county uses grant money to help property owners create fire breaks on their properties and clean up any extraneous fuel, which the property owner agrees to maintain. The A&M Forest Service and other state agencies—including the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Lower Colorado River Authority—are working to restore government lands on the Bastrop State Park, Camp Swift and LCRA land to a more resilient landscape, such as reducing excess fuels.
SOURCE: TEXAS A&M FOREST SERVICE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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BASTROP - CEDAR CREEK EDITION
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