This summer, Austin firefighter Randy Denzer hosted two California firefighters who were in town for a statewide symposium. On the way to dinner, he drove up Loop 360 toward RM 2222 and onto Spicewood Springs Road, passing thousands of rooftops among the rolling green slopes and ridgetops. Just months before, Denzer's guests had fought the Camp Fire, the worst in California history, which killed 85 people and destroyed almost 20,000 structures. What they saw in West Austin was alarming.
"I wish I could have filmed their expressions," recalls Denzer, who spoke to the Chronicle as a vice president of the Austin Firefighters Association. "They were in absolute amazement at the level of risk we have. It's not something where [just] I'm saying the risk is bad, it's something where people who have been there, done that are saying that the risk is bad – really bad."