Travis County Commssioners Court
March 16, 2004
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Item 2
Number 2 is approve proclamation declaring March 27 through April 3, 2004, as wildfire awareness week in Travis County.
>> thank you. Let me read the proclamation. Whereas fire professionals provide a vital public service. Whereas the Texas forest service and the Austin-Travis County firefighters stand ready to save lives and protect property for residents of wild line communities. Whereas in 2003 the Texas for rest service responded to 929 major wild land fires that burned 35,933 acres in the state of Texas. Whereas the Texas forest service, Travis County and the city of Austin jointly recognize the danger posed to lives and property due to wildlife urban interface issues. Whereas wild land urban interface issues arise when homes are built in a forested wildlife environment where poor access, steep slopes and limited water supplies are critical factors in determining the successor failure of firefighting efforts. Whereas fire professionals in Travis County desire to prevent tragedies like those that occurred in california recently by raising wildlife hazard awareness and by providing education in our communities. Whereas it is appropriate to acknowledge that the most important component of this type of prevention is the concept of defensible space which is an area surrounding a home where the vegetation and sometimes the structure has been modified to separate the fuels on which a wild land feed for the home. And whereas the Texas forest service has created a checklist that is a very valuable tool for homeowners to develop their own safety plans. Be it reinvolved that we, the Travis County kpheurb, proclaim March 27 through April 3, 2004, as wildfire awareness week in Travis County and encourage all residents of Travis County to learn more about the prevention of wild land urban interface issues and recognize the fire professionals who contribute so much to this county, this state and to this nation. Signed and entered into the 23rd day of March, and I move approval.
>> welcome. Good morning, Commissioners. I know you are busy so I’m just going to take a few minutes. Bill miller with the fire department, chris barron with the state fire marshal's office, lexi maximum well with the Texas for -- maxwell with the text forest service and rich gray. He would like to say a few words.
>> judge and Commissioners, I think it's admirable that you declared this week filed fire preparedness week. The emergency services in the county have done an outstanding job in protecting lives and property in the county and through your resolution and the county emergency services will take that a step forward to getting public information out to the public of Travis County so they themselves can be better prepared in the event of a significant wild land fire. And the Texas forest service will be supporting these efforts throughout that week and in subsequent months after that. And it's very admirable to go ahead and approve this resolution. And we appreciate that. Thank you.
>> this is our interim fire marshal, simon, I wanted to introduce him.
>> looks like a fire marshal this morning.
>> doesn't he? But also, judge, there is -- and court, there is on companion to this in item 27 which is a letter we prepared we would like to spend to the Travis County legislative delegation. That will also be on the agenda today, but we invite everyb@dy to come out this Saturday. We think that's going to be a worthwhile event not only for communication purposes but demonstrations of equipment that's used and folks that will be out there you can talk with. So thank you very much. And they would like to have a picture if it's possible. They have a camera, so if you don't mind, we would like to take a picture real quick with these fine folks.
>> that would be great, and good luck with the weekend. Judge, I’m going to hopefully not have to ask you -- [inaudible] this Saturday event, but we'll work from my office to make sure that we have somebody there.
>> thank you.
>> and I think the fact that always scares me to death is that the exact kinds of conditions that devastated oakland a number of years back are present here in Travis County. And so we can't do anything about a lightning strike, we can't do anything about a drought making everything a tinderbox, but there are some things we can proactively approach the hot summer mths with, and that list is so very important because when these things happen, it can take out thousands of acres in a matter of minutes and really tax the resources of our fire professionals. So ever vigilant.
>> for those who miss this Saturday's press conference, do we have a list of those things available so they can call the fire marshal's office, we can just send the list to them?
>> yes, sir. I’m sorry,ed.
>> and the fire marshal's phone number is?
>> 854-4621.
>> 854-4621.
>> is that checklist possible to put on our website in something people can very easily down load off the website and call attention to it?
>> yes, Commissioner.
>> and the words you've spoken eloquently so far.
>> no word from me.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all.
>> you guys get a little bit closer in here. A group hug here. One more. Thank you.
>> thank you very much.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 1:40 PM