Firewise

DRAFT
 
CRYSTAL FALLS HOA
A Nationally Recognized FIREWISE USA Community
 
Every year devastating wildfires burn across the United States. At the same time, the number of people living where wildfire is a real risk is growing. While these fires will continue to happen, there are things we can do to protect our homes and neighborhood as well as our family’s safety. 
 
Firewise USA is a national recognition program, created by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), an international fire and electrical safety organization founded in 1896. The program helps communities and homeowners reduce wildfire risks through collaborative planning, education, and mitigation actions. It provides a structured framework for communities to increase the ignition resistance of homes and reduce wildfire risks. The designation is earned – not given- and it requires a community to meet annual voluntary criteria and maintain “In Good Standing” status.
 
The Crystal Falls Homeowners Association is a Firewise Recognized Community. We have a resident-led HOA committee that works with local fire officials and state emergency management to create and maintain wildfire action plans. We have committed to ongoing education, fuel reduction, and risk-mitigation activities for the benefit of all Crystal Falls neighborhoods. We set and work toward the fulfillment of annual goals  We are dedicated to meeting periodic reporting requirements, including progress assessments, as required by the Firewise USA program.
 
 
 
Photo from our inaugural Firewise Seminar in March 2026
 

Wildfire Risk

Leander has experienced wildfires. The most significant ones happened in 2011, a time of severe drought and punishing temperatures. Three Leander wildfires happened that year, including one in Grand Mesa. Also in 2011, the most destructive year statewide, major Austin-area wildfires burned in Bastrop and Steiner Ranch. It can happen here, it has happened here, and the stakes are now higher than in 2011 since there are more houses in our hills than ever before.
 
Experts rank the West Austin/I-35 corridor as the fifth most wildfire-threatened US metropolis – the only one in the top five outside California. Texas, with its drought, winds, and terrain, ranks third among states most vulnerable to wildfires, with 245,000 homes at moderate or greater risk. 
 
Our region, one of the fastest growing in the country, faces heightened danger due to its hilly landscape and dense vegetation. In such terrain, fire spreads rapidly, fueled by strong winds and steep slopes that make firefighting more difficult.
 
Preparedness is crucial. Wildfire risks are exactly why the Crystal Falls Firewise Committee was formed, to keep residents informed and to help protect our homes and families. 
 
Check Your Wildfire Risk 
Search for an address to learn the wildfire risk of your location and its surrounding area.
 
A Resident’s Guide to a Fire Adapted Leander – City of Leander website
 
Managing Your Wildfire Risk: An Introduction to Firewise USA (video 5:25)
 
 
 
 

Fire Harden Your Home

Defensible Fire Barrier
 
Defensible space is the area around your home in which vegetation, debris, and other combustible fuels have been removed to slow the spread of fire to the home. Experiments and post fire studies have shown homes ignite due to the condition of the home and everything around it. This is called the Home Ignition Zone.
Wildfires often cause homes to burn not from the main wall of flames, but from wind-blown embers - small, glowing fragments of burning vegetation, debris, or building material carried ahead of the fire by strong winds. Embers can be lifted into the air and carried miles, sometimes landing on roofs, gutters, decks, vents, and landscaping long before the main fire arrives. Research shows up to 90% of homes lost in wildfires ignite from embers. Protecting your home from embers is one of the most effective ways to reduce wildfire risk.
 
Home Ignition Zone - The home ignition zone is divided into three zones.
 
  • Zone 1 - Immediate 
The home and the area 0-5’ from the furthest attached exterior point of the home is defined as a non-combustible area. This is the most important zone to take immediate action as it is the most vulnerable to embers. 
 
  • Zone 2 - Intermediate 
5-30’ from the furthest exterior point of the home is the intermediate zone. Employ careful landscaping and/or create breaks that can help influence and decrease fire behavior
 
  • Zone 3 – Extended 
30-100’, out to 200 feet, the goal is not to eliminate fire but to interrupt fire’s path and keep flames smaller and on the ground.
 
 
 
What is Defensible Space? Get to Know Your Zero Zone - Fire Safe Marin (video 7:05)  
 
 
Your Home Can Survive Wildfire – NFPA (video 13:19)
 
 If Your Home Doesn’t Ignite It Can’t Burn – NFPA (video 1:59)
 
 
 
Landscaping

Fire resilient landscaping focuses on creating and maintaining defensible space around your home. The goal is to have fire-resistant plants strategically placed in your landscape to reduce the chances of wildfire reaching and burning your home. 
 
Spreading wood chips for bed mulch, especially close to a house, is not a firewise choice. In a typical Crystal Falls summer or when rain is infrequent, wood chips can become fuel for an advancing fire. Within five feet of a structure, non-flammable gravel and pebbles are a fire-prevention choice.
 
Fire resistant plants possess chemical and physical properties that reduce the plant’s combustibility and ignitability. These types of plants can withstand a longer exposure to heat and embers before igniting and they burn less intensely. Typical traits of fire-resistant plants include a high moisture content and stems that are watery and lack resins, oils and other volatile compounds.
 
Highly combustible plants will produce large amounts of heat and long flame lengths, and when planted near other vegetation, these plants can contribute to the spread of a wildfire. Another consideration is ember production. Plants that produce a large amount of embers will increase a home’s risk in the event of a wildfire. 
 
Fire Resilient Landscaping - Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/fire-resilient-landscaping/
 
Firewise Plant List – Texas, North West Austin Civic Association (NWACA)
https://nwaca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Firewise-plant-list.pdf
 
City of Austin, Top 24 Invasive Plant Species 
https://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/coa_results.php
 
Firewise Landscaping - Amy with Garden up (video 13:55)

 
Decks
 
Homeowners should not overlook the potential risk that an attached deck can create. Recent testing by the insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) offers important findings that can help minimize risk from wind-blown embers to decks.
 
Deck surfaces and railings constructed of wood are flammable. Deck furniture of wood or plastic are especially likely to ignite if a wildfire approaches. And underdeck areas are one of the most vulnerable areas of a home, especially on a slope. People often store combustibles under a deck and leaves easily accumulate here. The resources below provide ways to minimize this risk to your home. 
 
Fire Spread on Ember-Ignited Decks – IBHS, Firewise USA, TX A&M Forest Service  
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/factsheetsemberigniteddecks.pdf
 
Wildfire-Resilient Decks: Guidance & Best Practices for Building and Maintenance - FireSmart British Columbia
https://firesmartbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/FSBC_DeckGuidance_6B.pdf 

Reduce the Risk: Retrofit Your Deck – Fire Safe Marin (video 6:34)

 
 

Fences 
 
Fencing located within the zero to five-foot noncombustible zone should be constructed of noncombustible materials. If you already have a wood fence, begin by looking at where it connects to the home, garage, deck, or another structure that attaches to the house. These are the most vulnerable areas. Replacing the section closest to the house with a noncombustible fence panel or gate will break the path of fire and reduce the chance of home ignition.
 
Fencing, Material, Installation and Maintenance Choices – IBHS, Firewise USA, TX A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/factsheetsfencing-ashx.pdf
 
A Buyer & Builders Guide to Fire-Resistant Fencing and Gates – Fire Safe Marin
https://firesafemarin.org/harden-your-home/fire-resistant-fencing/ 

Combustible Fence Ignites Home - Fire Safe Marin (video 43 sec)

 
 
 
        The HOA completed a major project in 2025, replacing stockade fencing with non-combustible stone
 
 
 
Fire-resistant Upgrades to Your Home
 
Among the fire resistant upgrades some Crystal Falls residents have added to their homes are lightning rods. These protect structures from direct lightning strikes by providing a safe path for electrical energy to reach the ground, reducing the risk of fire and structural damage. 
 
Lightening Safety Brochure – NOAA & National Weather Service
https://www.weather.gov/media/hun/outreach/brochures/LightningSafetyBrochure.pdf
 
Designed for Wildfire Country: Implementing these fire-resistant details can increase resilience - Fine Homebuilding, Issue 326, Oct 2024
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2024/09/10/designed-for-wildfire-country
 
Be Embers Aware, It’s the Little Things That Count – IBHS, Texas A&M Forest Service, US Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/edited-embers-aware.pdf
 
Attic and Crawl Space Vents – IBHS, Firewise USA, Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/firewisefactsheetsatticscrawlspaces.pdf
 
Exterior Walls / Coatings – IBHS, Firewise USA, Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/firewisefactsheetscoatings.pdf
 
Roofing Materials – IBHS, Firewise USA, Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/factsheetsroofingmaterials-ashx.pdf
 
Skylights – IBHS, Firewise USA, Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/factsheetsskylights.pdf
 
Under-eave Construction – IBHS, Firewise USA, Texas A&M Forest Service
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/factsheetsundereaves-ashx.pdf
 
 


Lightning Rods in Crystal Falls
 

Greenbelts

Greenbelts are places of undeveloped land intentionally set aside throughout areas managed by the Crystal Falls Homeowners Association. 
 
Some of the information here may be of particular interest to homeowners whose properties share a border with a greenbelt. But one of this section’s important messages is that all residents within the jurisdiction of the Crystal Falls Homeowners Association – those who live adjacent to greenbelts and those who do not – benefit when greenbelts are managed responsibly. 
 
Greenbelts are part of a larger picture. Whenever human development meets or intermingles with wildland, experts use a broader descriptor: the Wildland-Urban Interface, commonly referred to as the WUI. This transition zone between unoccupied land and human development is a field of study driven by the recognition that human/wildland coexistence comes with consequences. Within the WUI framework, academics, first-responders, insurance experts, environmentalists and others examine a range of things, including ecological processes, land-use changes, human behavior, and environmental hazards. They study the causes and effects of wildfires. As understanding has grown, so have opportunities for practical applications of new knowledge. We’re fortunate that right here, the Leander Fire Department takes a leadership role in using and diseminating fire science knowhow. The questions before us are straightforward: How can we use this knowledge to protect our homes and our greenbelts from wildfires? 
 
.
 
 
                                 
                   Greenbelt between two Crystal Falls neighborhoods    Footbridge within a Crystal Falls greenbelt
                                        The Bluffs and The Fairways
 
 
 
 
Fire Mitigation
 
Greenbelts present fire risks. Fortunately, there are actions that can reduce the damaging extent of these fires. 
 
Ladder fuels are vegetation, such as shrubs, small trees and dense understory, that bridge the gap between surface fuels (like grasses and leaves) and trees. They act like ladders because they allow fire to climb from the ground up into the treetops.
 
Dry grasses and leaves catch fire first. The heat from the surface fire travels upward through the ladder fuels, igniting lower tree branches and spreading fire into the tops of trees. By thinning understory vegetation and removing small trees, ladder fuel load is reduced. Limbing up established trees further reduces the chance of tree ignition.
 
Drivers of forest wildfire severity include fuels, topography and weather. However, because only fuels can be actively managed, here is where our chance to mitigate the risk to our communities lies. 
 
The Crystal Falls Homeowners Association manages roughly 2,500 acres, many of which are natural greenbelts. The Association recognizes that our greenbelts are environmentally sensitive and worth preserving at the same time recognizing that uncontrolled fires threaten both natural areas and houses. Through study and research, fire science has provided us with practical applications to address this risk.
  •          Reduce surface fuels to limit flame length and prevent crown ignition
  •          Increase distance from ground to lowest tree limbs
  •          Increase spacing between tree crowns to slow fire spread
  •          Maintain larger, fire-resistant trees, they have thicker bark and are less likely to be killed by fire
  •          Promote fire-resistant species and maintain structural diversity 
  •          Create fuel breaks and fire breaks to reduce horizontal fuel continuity 
  •          Reassess fuel loads periodically; perform ongoing fire-resistance clean-up
Combining thinning, mechanical removal and pruning can significantly reduce ladder fuel risk, lower fire intensity and improve forest resilience.
 
The main focus of the HOA’s efforts within our greenbelts are the areas within 100 feet of a homeowner’s house. The objective is to reduce the likelihood of fire spreading to our yards and houses.
 
Greenbelts are special. They bring us birds, butterflies and bees. They also come with dead trees, downed limbs, and weeds taller than a horse. Mother Nature is a lot of things. Tidy is not one of them. Those of us in Crystal Falls live here despite – or maybe because of – these things. 
 
The Crystal Falls Homeowners Association recognizes that our greenbelts are environmentally sensitive and worth preserving. Because uncontrolled fires threaten both natural areas and houses, the HOA encourages every resident to understand, and practice the principles outlined here. We are all stewards and together, we can reduce wildfire risks.
 
In 2011, there were 27,976 wildfires in Texas – Lake Travis Fire Rescue (video 3:00)  
 
Insert Photo: Cleared Greenbelt Area
 

Home Wildfire Risk Evaluation

It’s not a question of if another major wildfire will hit us – but when. Wildfire is everyone’s fight. Know your risk, take steps to reduce it, and become fire adapted.
 
Fire Adapted Austin Fire Department Home Ignition Zone Training (video: 9:34)
 
Do It Yourself Structure Ignition Zone Evaluation Guide
 
Structure Ignition Zone Evaluation (SIZE) Request Form, Travis County
 

Escaping a Wildfire

What if the unthinkable occurs? Despite everyone’s best efforts, wildfires happen. Experts say that advance planning for an evacuation is more than a good idea. It can make a life-saving difference. 
 
Don’t wait for an emergency to start planning for it. Have a plan in place so you are prepared.
 
Warn Central Texas
The Capital Area Council of Governments and its partners offer an emergency notification system to residents of Central Texas. Registering with WarnCentralTexas allows local officials to contact their communities by phone, email, and/or text during times of disasters or public safety events.
 
Register to get Emergency Warnings by Text, Email or Phone: www.www.warncentraltexas.org/alerts
 

READY

Create an Action Plan that includes evacuation meeting locations and communication plans – rehearse it regularly. Include the evacuation of all pets and large animals. Remember the 7 P’s:
  • People & pets
  • Papers (Important papers, Passports, IDs)
  • PC’s
  • Prescriptions & Medications
  • Plastics (credit cards)
  • Personal Devices (phones and chargers)
  • Pictures & Photo Albums

SET

Monitor fire weather conditions and fire status. Check your local fire department or emergency management websites and social media accounts for wildfire information. Stay tuned to your TV or local radio stations for updates, including Red Flag Warnings in your area.
  • Alert household and neighbors.
  • Dress in clothing made from natural fiber, i.e. cotton, and work boots. Have goggles and a dry bandana or particle mask handy.
  • Ensure your Go Kit includes all necessary items, such as a battery powered radio, spare batteries, emergency contact numbers, and drinking water.
  • Remain close to your house, drink plenty of water and ensure your household members and pets are accounted for and ready to leave.
 
Inside checklist, if time allows:
  • Close all windows and doors.
  • Remove all shades and curtains from windows and ensure all blinds remain open, unless you have metal blinds. Close all metal blinds.
  • Move furniture to the center of the room, away from windows and doors.
  • Turn off pilot lights and air conditioning.
  • Leave your lights on so firefighters can see your house in smoky conditions.
 
Outside checklist, if time allows:
  • Make sure combustible items are a safe distance away from the exterior of the house (e.g. patio furniture, children’s toys, door mats). If you have time, place these items inside your garage or home where they will not become a hazard.

GO

Get your Go Kit and leave well before the threat approaches using a planned, accessible route. Have several travel routes in case one is blocked by fire or emergency vehicles.
 
Stay aware of the situation and follow your plan.
 
Cooperate with local authorities during evacuation and re-entry processes.
 
Survival Tips If You Are Trapped
  • If you have become trapped and cannot evacuate, call 9-1-1 immediately.
  • Stay in your home, sheltering away from walls, until the fire passes or emergency personnel tell you differently. Follow their instructions and commands.
  • Look for spot fires and extinguish if found inside the house.
  • Wear long sleeves, long pants, and a bandana made of natural fiber, such as cotton.
  • Stay hydrated.
  • Ensure you can exit the home if it catches fire. Remember, if it’s hot inside the house, it is four to five times hotter outside. 
  • Fill sinks and tubs for an emergency water supply.
  • Place wet towels under doors to keep smoke and embers out.
  • After the fire has passed, check your roof and extinguish any fires, sparks, or embers if you are able to safely do so. Check the attic as well.
Wildfire Smoke
 
Wildfire smoke contains harmful gases, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons  and fine particulate matter that can be a serious threat to health. Ultrafine particles pose a significant threat because they can infiltrate deep into the lungs. This can trigger inflammation and exacerbate preexisting respiratory conditions. Wildfire smoke can also affect your cardiovascular health. 
 
In general, the severity of health impacts from smoke depends on both the concentration and duration of exposure. Limiting exposure to wildfire smoke is the best way to reduce negative impacts. Monitoring air quality indexes and advisories are a good way to help minimize exposure. Just as you check the weather forecast, check the air quality index for your area. When the air quality index is in the hazardous zone, an N95 mask does a great job filtering out small particles.        
 
Prepare for Fire Season, Wildfire Smoke Factsheet Before a Wildfire – During a Wildfire
 
Tips to Help Protect Yourself from Wildfire Smoke – The Weather Network, Canada  (video 2:17)

 
Evacuation Routes Coming Soon
 
Personal Preparedness: How to Make a Wildfire Evacuation Checklist – Fire Safe Marin (video 6:22)
 
 
Wildfire Evacuation: Make It Downhill Alive – Fire Safe Marin (video 11:05)
 
Current Wildfire Status, Incident Viewer - Texas A&M Forest Service 
 

Helpful Resources

ONLINE TRAINING
NFPA Education & Research 
https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire  
 
GUIDES
Crystal Falls Evacuation Routes
coming soon
 
Ready, Set, Go! Active Fire Situation Plan - International Association of Fire Chiefs Active Wildfire Situation Plan
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KG8IuufyYqQpMA3xKyLaXRysU7-pl-Ms/view 
 
LOCAL AGENCIES
City of Leander Fire Marshall
 
Travis County Fire Marshall
https://www.traviscountytx.gov/fire-marshal/wildland-fire 
https://www.Leandertx.gov/fire

Austin Area Firewise Alliance (AAFA)
 
Texas A&M Forest Service, Homeowner Resource for Wildfire Risk Information
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/ 
 
NATIONAL RESOURCES
Fire Resistant Materials for Home Repair and Construction  – Texas A&M Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture Forest Services, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
https://texaswildfirerisk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/fireresistantmaterials.pdf 
 
 
 
 
 
Not every day is a fire-danger day