Travis County and Austin launch CWPP update; officials outline mapping, outreach and homeowner steps

Arianna Porter, project manager at SWCA Environmental Consultants, told attendees at a public webinar that Austin and Travis County are updating their Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) to identify and prioritize hazardous‑fuels treatments and measures to reduce structural ignitability. "A CWPP does not mandate or require anything. It simply assesses the risk and makes recommendations," Porter said.

The update will include a countywide desktop risk assessment that considers fuels, topography and historic weather and targeted on‑the‑ground assessments in the highest‑risk wildland‑urban interface (WUI) areas, Vicky Amato, a principal planner at SWCA, said. Luke Ball, wildfire mitigation officer at the Austin Fire Department, said the CWPP update is funded by the city and county and is a revision of a plan first developed about 10 years ago. "This plan does not come with a budget to enact a plan," Ball said; he added that recommended activities will rely on later funding from municipal, county and stakeholder sources.

Panelists encouraged residents to use the project hub (cwppaustin.hub.arcgis.com) and the public survey (publicinput.com/cwpp) to submit local knowledge and priorities. SWCA will post maps, the draft CWPP and written answers to questions on the hub site as materials are completed, Porter said. The team also plans to produce a homeowner guide listing resources and potential funding sources linked to the CWPP recommendations.

Technical and methodological differences among public risk portals were raised. Carrie Hines, statewide fire‑adapted communities coordinator at Texas A&M Forest Service, explained why national and state maps diverge: some portals emphasize exposure or rate of spread, while local mapping can prioritize different layers. "Depending on the data source and what features are being prioritized, the layers can look a little bit differently," Hines said. She urged residents to review the county's forthcoming maps and provide feedback during the comment period.

Panelists said the CWPP update will also cross‑reference existing hazard‑mitigation and land‑management plans, integrate equity considerations and coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions through mutual‑aid agreements. The hub site will list outreach events and the project team said it will follow up on questions not reached during the webinar.

The CWPP update is meant to guide future funding applications and project prioritization; it does not change local codes or compel private property work. Officials urged neighborhoods to consider Firewise approaches and collective actions to reduce costs for vegetation removal and to register for local alert systems such as WarrenCentralTexas to receive evacuation notifications.

Next steps: the project team will finish risk mapping, post materials to the hub site, produce a draft CWPP for public review and continue public outreach; the team will respond in writing to any webinar questions submitted through the Q&A.