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Austin firefighters took part in a groundbreaking training program last week aimed at better protecting homes from widespread forest fires. Courses that local forest fire experts say will save lives if flames threaten the area.
Randy Denzer, vice president of the Austin Firefighters Association, said he was one of several forest fire experts across the country who came together seven years ago to develop the new training exercises.
The courses, taught to two dozen Austin firefighters last week, were the last of five beta tests required before the program could be approved by the International Association of Fire Fighters. The program is now being delivered to firefighters in high risk areas such as California and even parts of Canada.
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“It’s the latest and greatest,” said Denzer on Thursday. “It’s been taking a long time, and by that time Austin Fire will be the largest urban fire department in the country to have this training.”
The latest analysis from CoreLogic, an online real estate data service, ranked Austin fifth among the nation’s metropolitan areas most at risk from forest fires. The four areas above Austin in the study are all in California.
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Two firefighters, known for their work tackling three of California’s most catastrophic fires, were invited by local officials in January 2020 to assess the risk of widespread forest fires in Austin. The duo called Austin’s risk of massive forest fires “frightening,” compared the dense vegetation and triple-digit temperatures with those in California, and urged city guides to act quickly.
The city council voted several months later to pass a set of rules called the Austin Wildland-Urban Interface Code, which includes refractories and landscape requirements for areas most at risk from widespread forest fires.
These rules, which began enforcement in January, only apply to those building new homes or remodeling buildings in high risk areas.
Austin’s WUI code mirrors the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, but has some modifications to suit what local leaders conveniently wanted to enforce.
“At some point we will have a big, devastating fire on the west side,” said Denzer on Thursday. “It will happen. It’s only a matter of time.
“We don’t want anyone to die when this thing finally happens. We must do everything in our power to try to minimize the effects of a large WUI fire on the west side.”
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The two dozen Austin firefighters who attended the training last week received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which paid for the courses. On its website, FEMA says it supports responding to forest fires across the country.
Denzer estimates it will cost every Austin firefighter $ 300,000 to complete the 16-hour course taught by those who attended the training last week.
Alison Alter, whose District 10 encompasses much of West Austin, including the Bull Creek Greenbelt and areas along Lake Austin, has continued to raise concerns about the risk of wildfires in Austin. She has promised to come up with the money to get all of Austin firefighters through training, Denzer said.
Because Travis County had such a rainy spring, the risk of forest fires in West Austin has increased, Denzer said. He explained that the dense vegetation that has continued to grow is at greater risk of igniting once plants and trees dry out in the August heat.
“If we look at some of these mega-fires in California, they lose 10,000 buildings,” said Denzer. “If we lose even 2,000 or 3,000 houses, it will have devastating effects on our city.”
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