Firewise Focus

Firewise Focus – Shaded Fuel Breaks

Submitted by Brian Tarr and Bill Hamm, Firewise The most important way for Steiner Ranch homeowners to reduce the risk of losing their home to a wildfire is to focus on hardening their home to prevent blowing ember induced spot fires from igniting their home. Blowing embers from a wildfire can travel more than a mile and are responsible for more than 80% of all the homes lost to wildfires. Therefore, every home in Steiner Ranch is at high risk of a wildfire induced fire. If you are not familiar with how to harden your home against blowing embers, please request a free Firewise Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) Evaluation by emailing your request to SRfirewise@gmail.com Wildfire risk is further increased by the possibility of any part of the Steiner Ranch greenbelt areas being ignited in a wildfire. The 2021 Lake Travis Fire & Rescue (LTFR) Wildfire Mitigation Plan for Steiner Ranch Community included specific recommendations for hardening our homes and maps showing approx. 20 miles of proposed additional shaded fuel breaks in the HOA owned greenbelts, to supplement the 5 miles of shaded fuel breaks already constructed on adjacent Balcones Canyonlands Preserve property. To further reduce the potential impact of the next Steiner Ranch wildfire, the Firewise committee is actively working on a community wide shaded fuel break action plan for consideration by the Steiner Ranch Master Association board. Since the devastating wildfires of 2011, shaded fuel breaks have become the preferred method for wildfire mitigation in the wildland areas around communities in the City of Austin, the City of Lakeway and the Balcones Canyon Preserve, and have been implemented with the assistance of the Texas A&M Forest Service. A shaded fuel break is basically a way to reduce the intensity of a wildfire before it can impact homes in a community adjacent to a greenbelt or wildland area. It effectively suppresses the spread of a crown fire, the most devastating type of wildfire that burns from treetop to treetop. It does this by removing flammable understory vegetation that must be present in sufficient quantities to sustain a crown fire. A shaded fuel break also allows significantly improved access for firefighters to control a wildfire. To see a CBS Austin report on the City of Austin’s shaded fuel break efforts, go to https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-works-to-create-fire-breaksbetween-parks-and-neighborhoods. Before and after pictures of a newly created shaded fuel break are included here.

Before - Overgrown Greenbelt After - Shaded Fuel Break