Austin, TX
Austin Fire using high-tech mapping to help prevent wildfire disasters
Austin Fire using advanced mapping to prevent wildfires
Austin firefighters are using advanced mapping technology to make sure they are prepared in the event of a wildfire.
AUSTIN, Texas – As devastating wildfires continue to rage across Southern California, the Austin Fire Department is taking some proactive measures to prepare for the possibility of a similar catastrophe striking closer to home.
Multiple lives lost, immeasurable destruction, and a community in crisis as the southern California wildfires continue to wreak havoc.
For Austin Fire Department’s Senior Geospatial Analyst Braniff Davis, it’s not a matter of if, but when a devastating wildfire breaks out in the area.
To help stay prepared for a wildfire, the agency uses high-tech mapping from a company called Esri.
What they’re saying:
“We use GIS or geographic information spatial information in order to help prepare the Austin Fire Department for fighting wildfires,” Davis said.
The city of Austin is using their high-tech mapping to improve fire prevention, response and damage assessment.
“It’s a great example of a local government addressing the risk in their community and either preventing or mitigating the risk and being able to respond to it,” Esri’s Director of Fire, Rescue and EMS Mike Cox said.
Big picture view:
Here’s how it works. It all starts with understanding risk, understanding the topography and who is being impacted by the incidents.
“As an example, I can do an analysis in GI and understand how many homes have disabilities within a certain planning zone or how many homes don’t have vehicles based on, you know, with concerns for evacuation, you know, who can self-evacuate and who can’t. So, these kind of data sets are available to these responders, to these agencies to be able to do this kind of planning,” Cox said.
Then, it’s about planning the response through geographic information technology.
First responders can now track firefighter locations, coordinate large-scale search and rescue efforts, and even monitor the movement of responding helicopters in real-time.
“What you’re seeing there is obviously a map with structural footprints. You see those tracks that are laid by the responders as they move through an area, and they’re dropping symbology around damage assessment of homes or evacuations. It’s incredibly important in a command post or an emergency operations center to be able to deploy resources efficiently and put people where they need to be to have the most impact and also to keep our responders out of hazardous areas,” Cox said.
Finally comes the recovery phase.
Esri mapping can identify where the damaged structures are post-fire to help begin the rebuild process.
“The recovery process at a federal level as they start tracking these damage assessments and can start funneling the funding to the right agencies and right people that need the help the most based on this data collection,” said Cox.
Local perspective:
For Davis, he says, while in its early stages, these tools are being used city wide by Austin Fire, with the hope for all other first responding agencies to utilize them in the future.
In the meantime, he says all AFD firefighters are being trained on how to use the situational awareness platform ahead of the next wildfire.
The goal, he says, is to get resources out to a fire as soon as it happens.
“Once we can get everybody all their data into this platform, then it just becomes a seamless one-stop shop for every bit of information you need for an emergency situation,” Davis said.
Dig deeper:
More information on Austin’s Wildfire Hub can be found here: Wildfire
More on Esri: GIS Software for Mapping and Spatial Analytics | Esri
The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX 7’s Jenna King’s interviews.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Trevor Goosby is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming 2027 NFL Draft. The Texas offensive lineman anchors the group up front for one of the best teams in the country and was named a preseason All-American by Walter Camp.
But his football career felt in jeopardy when he was in high school.
“That was kind of my biggest question,” said Goosby. “I was really nervous because would I be the same football player coming back?”
Goosby was born with a congenital heart defect and had open-heart surgery when he was just 16 years old. He wasn’t sure how this would change his everyday life, including his football career.
“Definitely a lot of nerves just because you’re getting your ribs cracked open essentially and getting your heart worked on…It was a scary moment. I remember driving up to the hospital super nervous.”
Goosby was able to recover and become a great football player. He said not only has he become a person in learning to fight through adversity, but it helped him as a player as well with improved endurance.
Now, the star Longhorn is giving back as much as possible.
Goosby hosted a camp in Austin to benefit the Children’s Heart Foundation. The organization works to fund research on congenital heart defects.
The offensive tackle is matching all donations up to $20,000 made to the Children’s Heart Foundation through the event and campaign.
“It means a lot to me just because of the heart condition I did have back when I was 16. That just kind of changed my life. I just want to bring awareness to that.”
The camp was at Hyde Park High School in Northwest Austin. Goosby spoke about what he hopes the young campers took away from the event.
“I think it’s just more than football. Football is a big part of what I do but it’s not who I am…I just want to show all these kids that I’m just another great guy and just someone they can look up to.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is getting its first major new national stock exchange in decades, and finance experts say it could create new opportunities for Austin’s tech companies and startups looking to grow.
The Texas Stock Exchange is launching this week in Dallas, with live trading expected to begin as early as Friday. The exchange began operations Monday, and it says all publicly traded stocks should be available on the platform by the end of the month. Thousands of publicly traded stocks are expected to be available by then.
Ray Perryman, President and CEO of the Perryman Group, said the launch signals Texas’ growing influence in the financial sector.
“It really lets the world know that Texas is indeed a major player in this industry,” Perryman said.
Gov. Greg Abbott called the exchange another sign of Texas’ expanding economic reach, saying, “This is another step that expands the financial might of Texas in the United States, and cements our economic power on the global stage.”
ALSO| Past and present teachers are charged with improving student outcomes in Texas
Perryman said the exchange could provide another path for companies to go public and could help attract more growing companies to Austin and the rest of the state. He said the added access to capital could have ripple effects across the economy.
“It increases opportunities for firms in the area to expand, have access to capital, to be more profitable. That means they hire more people. That means they pay more taxes. That means they buy more things in their supply chains,” Perryman said.
Texas ranks second in the U.S. for Fortune 500 headquarters, behind California and ahead of New York. With the Texas Stock Exchange set to launch, experts say Austin’s startup community could see even more growth.
Perryman said Austin-area tech firms could benefit from having an in-state exchange option.
“They’ll now have a vehicle here in Texas that will be more efficient and less expensive to register on than the traditional exchanges,” Perryman said.
Perryman said the exchange’s success will depend on how many companies choose to list on it, how much investment it attracts, and how many additional companies decide to move to Texas.
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