As Central Texas Population Grows, So Does Fire Risk

Fire risk is making its way from California to Texas along with tech companies and workers looking for more affordable housing, writes Patric Sisson in Bloomberg CityLab. As developers build more communities in the Austin suburbs to accommodate the growing population, neighborhood sprawl is increasingly encroaching on local forests.

“In general, the wildfire peril in Texas can’t compare to that in California, which is among the highest in the world, said Sam Carter, founding principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst.” But Austin city council member Alison Alter says “The fire risk in Austin is pretty serious, and I don’t think there’s a level of awareness that there is in California.” According to the article, over one third of Austin is at ‘high risk’ of fire.

Austin has experienced its own deadly fires in the past: “In 2011, nearly 1,700 buildings were destroyed when a wildfire tindered by downed power lines raced through drought-parched subdivisions in Bastrop County, southeast of Austin. More than 30,000 acres burned and two people were killed.” Conditions can be made worse by other natural disasters such as ice storms and deep freezes like the one that damaged infrastructure and felled trees and power lines across Texas in 2021.

“Creating a more fire-resilient central Texas would require a holistic approach and a lot of coordination between property owners: Unlike California, with its massive stock of state and national forests preserves and parks, 90% of Texas land is privately owned.” And while there is little optimism that builders will stop building, some cities are developing fire protection plans and coordinating fire response policies to prepare for future blazes.