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City and county officials kick off Wildfire Awareness Month

As Austin/Travis County heads into another scorching hot wildfire season, city and county leaders are sharing updates on community-wide preparedness efforts and emphasizing how individual Austinites can do their part. Local officials held a press conference on Tuesday to kick…

Fire • By Mina Shekarchi • May 1, 2025

Firefighters, city reach agreement on retirement fund

Negotiators for the city and Austin firefighters have finally reached agreement on how to deal with the Austin Firefighter Retirement Fund so that it complies with state law and can promise retirement benefits to current and future retirees. This has…

Fire • By Jo Clifton • Apr 22, 2025

Two bills compete to reform firefighters retirement fund

Two competing bills in the Texas Legislature aim to tackle the issue of reforming the funding structure of the Austin Firefighters Retirement Fund. In a message on the City Council Message Board (posted by the mayor’s chief of staff, Colleen…

Fire • By Hunter Simmons • Apr 7, 2025

Austin has had 5 high-risk wildfire days this month alone. Why are there so many red flag warnings?

As Texas becomes hotter and drier, and urban sprawl grows, the state could see more days with an elevated risk for wildfires. So far this year, Austin has had five of these days, also known as red flag warning days,…

Fire • By Luz Moreno-Lozano, KUT • Mar 20, 2025

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As wildfire anxiety grows, Austin plans to designate half the city as at risk of fire damage

Austin plans to greatly expand the amount of land, and therefore homes, considered at risk of wildfire damage. City Council members are scheduled to discuss updating rules surrounding Austin’s WUI, or Wildland-Urban Interface, later this month. This is the area…

Fire • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Mar 14, 2025

Austin ranks fifth in nation for cities most at risk for wildfires

According to a CoreLogic Wildfire Risk Report conducted in 2024, Austin ranks fifth in the nation for cities most at risk for wildfires. The top four cities are all located in California. David Bock, senior wildfire mitigation specialist at the…

Fire • By Hunter Simmons • Feb 25, 2025

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Proposals to address wildfire dangers face opposition

Two items on today’s City Council agenda related to wildfire prevention have raised alarms among at least two community groups – the Save Our Springs Alliance and Community Not Commodity. The agenda indicates that the first item would allocate nearly…

Fire • By Jo Clifton • Jan 30, 2025

Austin ranks 5th in major cities vulnerable to wildfires

Those who were in Austin in 2011 remember the tragic wildfires that hit Bastrop, Steiner Ranch and Spicewood that summer. The fires collectively burned through thousands of acres of land and destroyed over a thousand homes. “You can still drive…

Fire • By Katy McAfee, KUT News • Jan 17, 2025

Firefighters call for more cadets to address safety, mental health needs

The Austin Firefighters Association is seeking more attention to the safety issues facing its membership, which were discussed in part last week during City Council budget sessions. The AFA had planned to hold a press conference Monday to publicize issues…

Budget • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 30, 2024

City honors AFD’s work training firefighters for wildland-urban fires

Throughout her time on the dais, District 10 City Council Member Alison Alter has stressed the need for the city to understand and prepare to fight wildfires in the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, which is the area between unoccupied land…

Fire • By Jo Clifton • Jul 23, 2024

Rules on firefighters’ pension fund are likely to change

At last week’s meeting of City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee, chair Alison Alter thanked city staff for their work over the past several years to ensure a sound pension system for all three sets of city retirees – police,…

Fire • By Jo Clifton • May 14, 2024

AFD narrows its wildfire preparedness focus on Eastern Crescent

Ahead of national Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on May 4, the Public Safety Commission this week heard an update on how Austin is faring with its own community readiness efforts. The good news is that Austin leads the state in…

Fire • By Amy Smith • Apr 4, 2024

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