Austin firefighters prepare for busy wildfire season
(Austin Fire Department)
Wildland Firefighter Staff
AUSTIN, Texas – Austin firefighters have been watching the forecasts and are preparing for a very busy wildfire season.
KXAN reports that the latest drought monitor update has placed the entire Austin area under a drought.
The wildfire season has started way earlier than normal, and the Austin Fire Department is preparing for an active season.
KXAN spoke to Austin Fire Department Lieutenant Steve Gibbon and he explained how there are similarities between this upcoming season and 2011.
The 2011 Labor Day weekend wildfire burned 7,000 acres and 57 homes in Travis County.
The same weekend in Bastrop County, wildfires burned over 340,000 acres, and destroyed1,700 homes.
Austin ranks No. 5 in the country for the most susceptible to a wildfire, according to a CoreLogic wildfire report released in 2019.
The report says Austin is the most susceptible metro area to a wildfire outside of California.
