This web site has an interesting collection of information regarding how to deal with wildfire: Home Advisor
It does a very good job of addressing the needs of different sub-populations: children, seniors, and pet owners, as well as providing general guidance....
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Wildfire Maps Now Online
There were several GIS maps on display at the NWACA Annual meeting in May, which showed risk factors to our homes in times of wildfire (or house fire next door). Those have now been uploaded to the Wildfire Prevention Library. Go to the Resource tab, then select Library, then Wildfire Prevention to see a description...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip # 24: Virtuous Firewise Pyramid
NWACA is a neighborhood with families occupying more than 4,000 homes, and we have some of the most beautiful trees and vegetation in the State of Texas. However, NWACA is also designated as one of the most potentially dangerous urban wildfire areas in Travis County. We have a series of heavily tree-filled...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip #23: Financial Reasons to be Firewise
NWACA’s Wildfire Prevention Committee continues to encourage the neighborhood to be aware of the risks of wildfires to the whole neighborhood. With the ongoing drought, our landscapes and green spaces become excellent fuel for fires that might be triggered from a house fire, a lightning strike, or some careless motorist. While those who live...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #22: Insuring Valuables
A previous article addressed using home insurance policies to cover your valuables so that their value would be documented and your investment protected through your insurance company and/or the use of fire-rated safes. Much of the contents in your home is considered your “valuables;” i.e. unusual, expensive designer furniture; silver/gold/crystal dining ware; silverware...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #21: Protect Your Valuables with a Fireproof Safe
The NWACA Newsletter has provided articles for about two years on how to protect your home and property from urban wildfires…however, there are times when you can’t stop fate and your home is destroyed by fire. So how do you protect your most valuable belongings? One way is to insure your valuables...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #20 – Water is Crucial
In the Sunday June 7, 2015 Austin American-Statesman, there was a front-page article entitled “Will Quenching Last?” It spoke in-depth to the rainfall and floods of the month of May, asking if those had stopped the drought. The short answer is “No!” Another article in the same issue described the “The...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #19B Debunking Wildfire Myths
A myth is defined as “a widely held but false belief or idea, a misrepresentation of the truth, an exaggerated or idealized conception of a person or thing.” With the ever-increasing wildfire events around the United States and local fires at Bastrop, Steiner Ranch, and elsewhere, the public’s awareness of the dangers of...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #19A – Avoid the Myths
A myth is defined as “a widely held but false belief or idea, a misrepresentation of the truth, an exaggerated or idealized conception of a person or thing.” With the ever-increasing wildfire events around the United States and local fires at Bastrop, Steiner Ranch, and elsewhere, the public’s awareness of the dangers of these...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #18 – Using the Plan
Over the last two years, two plans have been developed that help residents and homes of NWACA prepare to survive a wildfire. Each plan is a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The overarching CWPP was developed by a joint task force of Austin and Travis County entities, providing guidance for the entire area. Released...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #17 – What to Do When the Wildfire Comes
First, you should have already done all of the fire-damage prevention to your home talked about in the previous tips. Those “tips” helped you harden your home against urban wildfires and their deadly embers, by working on the landscape and vegetation-intense areas surrounding your home, and by tending to the exterior skin materials and weak points...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #16 – Be Sure Your Home Is Not a Source of Fire
NWACA has been diligent over the past few years in getting the Austin Fire Department, the Texas Forest Service, the City of Austin, Travis County and others to educate all of us in the dangers of urban wildfire. We’re learning how to protect our homes, our neighborhoods, and our beautiful natural environment from ember storms,...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip #15: Fire Embers and Snowflakes
It is generally acknowledged by firefighters and fire experts that embers from a wild fire are more dangerous to homes and structures than the actual flames from the wildfire. Why is this? Well, the flight characteristics of fire embers are very similar to those of snowflakes (the difference being that one "freezes" and the...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #14 – Be Prepared for a Local Wildfire
About 2000 NWACA homes within a half mile of Stillhouse Hollow Preserve received a postcard from the Wildfire Division of the Austin Fire Department (AFD) last week, with this message on one side of the card.
Our homes are the ones that were in the “ember...
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Our homes are the ones that were in the “ember... Wildfire Prevention Tip #13: Learn More and Become an Assessor
What do you know about urban wildfires? Bastrop - The Pinnacle Fire - Steiner Ranch – California - Colorado - Washington State - all have been in the news, all cases of wildfire that burned a lot of vegetation, destroyed many homes and other structures, and several claimed lives as well. On the local...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #12: Minimize Plant Flammability
An 8-page pamphlet from the Texas Forest Service reminds us that “Fire-resistant does not mean fire-proof. Homeowners should maintain a healthy landscape with proper cleaning, pruning and watering. Put the right plant in the right place.” “Firewise Landscaping in Texas” addresses these topics: the right plants for the right place, reasons to maintain a Firewise...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip #11: Don’t Let Yard Debris Accumulate
We all now know that fire embers are a secondary starter of fires and they can fly as much as a mile from a wildfire source…starting new fires. Piles of dry tree limbs and other trimmings, brush, lawn debris, leaves, dry oak blooms, dry cuttings of groundcover and other vegetation are ideal targets for flying...
Wildfire Prevention Tip #10: Mulch Practices
Originally, mulch was a material consisting of leaves, bark or compost spread around and over a plant to enrich or insulate the soil. Today, most mulches are commercially produced wood chips, bark and other components. The vast majority of these mulches are flammable and can spread fire around and to your homes.
Don’t build mulch paths...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip #9 – Spring Cleaning in the Landscape
March is right around the corner and this is generally the time when homeowners return to their yards and gardens to get ready for the growing season. While you are cleaning away leaves and debris and trimming plants, it’s also a good time to be FireWise in protecting your home and vegetation.
Austin has had an...
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Wildfire Prevention Tip #8 – Register for Notifications
This month’s tip is a bit more generic than hardening a home; it applies to any citizen who wants to be notified of a regional emergency situation due to weather, wildfire, or other incident important to a broad population. The Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) maintains a regional emergency notification system that enables public...
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Central Texas is in a long drought cycle, despite occasional rain. Dry NWACA landscapes and the homes within are vulnerable to wildfire because we live in a greenbelt with a lot of wildfire fuel in its dead and down material. Our homes are most at risk from flying embers. They can be made relatively safe by removing debris, sealing all points of entry from flying embers, and clearing dead and dry vegetation. If you haven’t yet done so, please get a free home assessment to help you identify your risks. Use the Home Firewise Risk Evaluation form in the Be Involved menu on the home page.