Ready · Set · Go
Defensible space decides whether a house has a chance. Planning decides whether the people inside it leave in time. In a county full of hill streets with one way out, the second question is the harder one.
The regional emergency notification system does not know your phone number until you give it one. Register every mobile number in the household, and add the address of anywhere you spend a lot of time. warncentraltexas.org
Wireless Emergency Alerts reach phones in an area without registration, but they are coarse. Power and cell service can fail. Keep a battery or crank radio, and agree with neighbors on a phone tree that works when the internet does not.
The State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry (STEAR) collects information about residents who may need assistance in an emergency — mobility, medical equipment, transportation, communication needs. Registering does not guarantee a ride, and planning with neighbors still matters. STEAR registry
On red-flag days, know where the wind is coming from. Smoke you can see is information, and it may arrive before any alert does.
The national framework fire agencies use. The value is that it names three distinct moments, so you are not making every decision at once on the worst day.
Long before a fire — now.
A fire is burning nearby. Be ready to move.
Leave. Early is the whole point.
Leaving early is not overreacting. The danger in a one-exit neighborhood is not only the fire — it is several hundred households deciding to leave in the same ten minutes, on the same road, while apparatus is trying to come the other way. The households that left during "Set" are the reason that road still works.
Pack it once. Check it when the clocks change.
Much of Travis County was built up a hill or along a canyon rim, on a road that dead-ends. That geometry is worth planning around explicitly.
Even if it is a greenbelt path on foot, a neighbor's driveway, or a gated utility road. Walk it before you need it, in daylight.
Street parking that narrows a road to one lane stops a fire engine. Overhanging limbs below about 13 feet do the same. This is a neighborhood-level fix, not an individual one.
If an emergency route runs through a locked gate, settle now who holds the key or code and how responders get through. Nobody wants to discover that question at 2 a.m.
Agree who checks on whom — especially residents who do not drive, use oxygen or powered equipment, or live alone. Keep it voluntary and keep the list with the people on it.
The Alliance has put a detailed set of evacuation questions to area agencies — who orders an evacuation, how fast a message goes out, what happens when the one exit is blocked, how residents needing assistance are accounted for. As answers come back, they are published here rather than staying in a meeting. Get those updates
Return only when officials say the area is open. Burned ground hides hot spots and holes, ash can be caustic, downed lines may still be live, and a structure that looks intact can be unsafe. Document damage before cleaning up, and wear an N95 and gloves while you do it.
Wildfire smoke is a health problem at a distance from any flame, particularly for children, older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with heart or lung conditions. Austin Public Health publishes guidance during smoke events.
