Travis County Judge Andy Brown and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said they have signed disaster declarations for Travis County and the city of Austin, respectively, as officials warned that dry conditions and recent brush fires have pushed wildfire risk to critical levels.

The declarations, Brown and Watson said at a joint briefing with local fire and emergency officials, are intended to “proactively access resources, streamline emergency coordination and reinforce wildfire prevention efforts.” Brown said, “On Friday, I signed a disaster declaration for Travis County as a precaution due to the heightened wildfire risks that we're all seeing.” Watson said the city has issued its own declaration and stressed the county and city are coordinating response and preparedness work.

The declarations come after at least two brush fires over the weekend that were contained by local and state responders. Brown and other officials noted one fire was near Pilot Knob and that another incident involved mowing; Brown said one weekend fire led to a citation for violating the burn ban. The county has been under a strict burn ban since late September, Brown said, and officials repeated basic prevention steps: do not burn brush or debris, dispose of cigarettes properly, avoid parking on dry grass, secure tow chains and be careful when mowing or grilling.

Why this matters: officials said the region is unusually dry following a wet early summer that encouraged vegetation growth that has since dried out. That combination increases the amount of available “fuel” for fires. “The rain that we got earlier in the summer, we had an explosive growth and then the rain basically, the faucet was turned off and then we're starting to see the drying,” said Gary Howell, Travis County fire marshal. Officials warned that embers — not just flames — can travel far from the fire and ignite structures; Mayor Watson said, “Embers can travel more than a mile from their source and they are responsible they can be responsible for the majority of home ignitions.”

Fire chiefs and county emergency staff outlined steps residents can take now. Nick Perkins, chief at Travis County ESD No. 2 (Pflugerville Fire Department), urged property-level actions including “putting metal mesh on your vents, your gutters, clearing a 5 foot zone around your home free of flammable debris” and general cleanup around structures. Austin Fire Department officials said the department offers free home evaluations for structural ignition risk; residents can request an evaluation through the city’s 311 system or via the wildfire hub.

Officials described regional coordination of firefighting resources. Perkins said Travis County agencies are communicating daily and can deploy aircraft from Starflight, resources from the Texas A&M Forest Service and county ESD equipment including a fleet of five dozers. Austin Fire said five city firefighters were currently assigned to other jurisdictions under mutual-aid arrangements.

Public information and sign-ups: officials urged residents to register for local emergency alerts. The briefing referenced sites and services for information and neighborhood engagement, including readycentraltexas.org for neighborhood preparedness presentations, warncentraltexas.org for emergency alerts and atxwildfirehub.com for wildfire updates and resources.

Officials also urged neighborhoods, homeowners associations and community groups to request presentations and use the city and county’s outreach. Mayor Watson said public-safety officials plan to begin meetings with high-risk neighborhoods at the end of the month and invited community groups to schedule presentations.

What officials did not decide at the briefing: no new ordinances or additional restrictions were announced during the event; the declaration remarks focused on preparedness, public education and enabling faster contracting or coordination under an existing burn ban. Brown explained that the disaster declaration can speed procurement and coordination, but federal reimbursements require additional state and presidential declarations.

The briefing closed with repeated warnings about everyday activities that commonly spark fires — mowing, construction sparks, dragging chains and careless disposal of smoking materials — and a request that residents prepare emergency kits and family evacuation plans.