Tuesday, July 23, 2024 Joe Clifton
District 10 City Council Member Allison Alter has emphasized throughout her time at the podium the need for the city to understand and be prepared to fight wildfires in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the area between undeveloped land and man-made structures. On Thursday, Alter issued a statement praising the Fire Department for making sure all Austin firefighters are trained to fight WUI fires, which are very different from fighting structure fires.
Also present for the reading were City Council members Mackenzie Kelly, Paige Ellis and Ryan Alter, all of whom represent parts of the city’s west side that are perhaps most at risk from wildfire.
Austin is one of the most wildfire-vulnerable cities in the country, she said, and the entire city needs to be prepared for the threat of wildfires. Austin is currently the largest city in the world where all firefighters are West Indies-trained in firefighting, she said.
In 2021, the City Council allocated funding to help train all of the city’s firefighters to respond to fires in this complex zone. Part of that response was creating a training curriculum that didn’t exist at the time. She thanked Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nix and former Battalion Chief Randy Denzer for their efforts in making sure all firefighters had access to the training.
Accepting the proclamation, Fire Chief Carrie Stewart said it was important to honor the firefighter leaders who have taught others how to fight fires at the wildland-urban interface. She said these leaders have spent Friday and Monday nights for the past two and a half years teaching their fellow firefighters how to fight those fires.
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