Volunteer group assists Williamson County with large fire mitigation project ahead of wildfire season
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - A volunteer group is assisting Williamson County with a large fire mitigation project, which helps protect land, homes and animals while saving the community money.
Team Rubicon is doing preventative work to protect homes and the endangered species that live in Williamson County.
"While it’s not someone’s worst day, we’re preventing their worst day by doing this work," Team Rubicon volunteer Keith Elwell said.
About 40 volunteers with Team Rubicon grabbed their saws and went to work in the Twin Springs Preserve in Williamson County.
"We’re free and everybody’s out here because we love to do it,’ Team Rubicon incident commander Tim Mollock said, ‘This will save the community upwards of $100,000."
They created a shaded fuel break. "It’s about taking out trees that are dead that the Department of Parks and Rec deemed we’re taking out, they’re either too wild, too big, too small," Team Rubicon Texas State Administrator Oscar Arauco said.
About 75,000 square feet were cleared.
"We want to separate trees from houses, and we want a break in there, we want it shaded which means we still have some top cover for wonderful critters that live in the area and for people to walk and be able to enjoy shade, but we also want a separation from the fuel, taking the fuel away from being near houses," Arauco said.
He said if a fire did start, it would stop at the fuel break.
In 2022, Texas A&M Forest Service and local fire departments responded to almost 12,000 wildfires that burned more than 640,000 acres across the state, including hundreds of acres burned in Williamson County.
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"Anything that we can do to help the local first responders be able to get in and fight these fires by creating these breaks, giving them some time, giving them some space, it’s a great thing," Arauco said.
This shaded fuel break is part of the Williamson County Wildfire Protection Plan and the Habitat Conservation Plan to protect the endangered species like golden-cheeked warblers and Georgetown salamanders.
"Environmentally this is the optimal time of year to help the environment, the warbler breeding season is from what I understand begins on the first of March, so it gives us about a three-month window to effect this," Arauco said.
If you’re interested in volunteering for the next project with Team Rubicon, click here.