CEDAR HILL, TX
Cedar Hill is located just 20 miles south of Dallas in the southwest corner of Dallas County. It is
conveniently located next to major thoroughfares, which makes it accessible to both the everyday
commuter and seasonal visitor (figure 1). Some of the major features of Cedar Hill that make the city
the attraction it is today are Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park, which holds a unique mixture of
Blackland Prairie grasslands and White Rock Limestone Escarpment upland forests. Residential
subdivisions are springing up all around these features for the perfect hilltop view and direct
accessibility to recreation (figure 2).
Natural resources. The state park was founded during the early 1990s, just after Joe Pool Lake
opened northwest of Cedar Hill. The unique convergence of two biomes makes the state park the most
visited in Texas. The Blackland Prairies are known for their wide variety of wildflowers and the
dominance of tallgrasses such as big bluestem, little bluestem, Indiangrass and switchgrass. The upland
forests, alternatively, are rich with mesquite and eastern red cedar growing along limestone bluffs, and
can be seen in the western edge of the city at the state park. The coexistence of Blackland Prairie
remnants within the upland forest make this area highly biodiverse.
With attractive and valuable amenities in place, the city began seeing rapid population growth
and increased subdivision development within its jurisdiction. During the mid-1990s, however, Cedar
Hill experienced a wildfire and nearly 500 homes were damaged, resulting in several million dollars’
worth of property damage. The City of Cedar Hill used prescribed burns on 100 to 150 acres of prairie
grasses as a control measure in areas southeast of the state park during the mid- to late-90s.
Additionally, fire was historically used to maintain and manage prairie habitat, adapting this ecosystem
to fire. As residential development started moving out towards city limits, fire became a risk and control
measures were put on hold for public safety.
Wildfire mitigation challenges. One of the more recent master-planned communities to spring
up in Cedar Hill is Lake Ridge at Joe Pool Lake, where the most valued amenity is the hilltop and wooded
lot adjacent to the state park (figure 3). Both grasses and cedar (juniper) trees found in the park are
highly flammable, however, and have gone unmanaged since the state park’s inception. The
intersection of these homes and unmanaged vegetated areas is known as Wildland Urban Interface
(WUI). Cedar Hill’s fire chief at the time, Steve Pollock, recognized the high risk of subdivision
encroachment onto highly flammable vegetation and proactively decided to search for the tools and
help necessary to begin reducing this risk before it became too late.
Approach. In the mid-2000s, Pollock contacted the Texas Forest Service for assistance in
developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). This plan helps communities reduce the risk
of wildfires by allowing them to determine the best strategies for protecting their homes, businesses,
and natural resources, and to make informed decisions to reduce nearby hazards. Pollock began by
engaging various stakeholders and City leadership and educating local elected officials on the potential
for a catastrophic disaster. According to Pollock, “because elected officials may have never experienced
a huge threat, they do not recognize the risks, [and] education early on is essential in the process for
buy-in time.” During the CWPP planning process, city leadership, staff, and officials recognized the fire
risk and fuel load in the area directly south of the state park, and consequently approved a plan for a
new fire station, currently in use. Involved parties also established a set of goals and objectives based
on historic occurrences and existing concerns:

Improve fire suppression and prevention capabilities (equipment – Type III, VI)

Increase credentialed wildland fire personnel in the Cedar Hill Fire Department

Determine the appropriate hazardous fuels reduction project

Promote measures to reduce structural ignition potential
Plan framework and development. A CWPP includes the community profile and risk
assessment and outlines prescription measures and a timeline for achieving the desired goals.
According to Justice Jones of the Texas Forest Service WUI staff, CWPPs require the prioritization of fuel
project implementation, treatment of structural ignitability, and collaborative efforts between the fire
chief, state and private land management agencies, city council, and other public officials. The
community profile identifies density, location, transportation, and development types. Risk assessment
looks at the potential loss in valuable assets and threat to public safety in relation to types of vegetation,
topography, and climatic conditions. Cedar Hill’s CWPP identifies the city as a community at risk and
high priority in terms of wildfire. Priorities include mitigation for subdivisions, fuel reduction projects,
and education and outreach programs in fuel mitigation and defensive space. Homes, businesses,
farmland, communication towers, and state and local facilities are some of the assets at risk (figure 4).
Cedar Hill State Park and Dogwood Canyon, at the northern edge of the state park, are the invaluable
natural resource assets in the community that draw not only numerous visitors annually, but are also
habitat for a diverse array of plant and animal populations. Dogwood Canyon in particular sustains the
Metroplex’s greatest variety of rare and endangered species, including the Golden-checked Warbler and
Black-capped Vireo.
Prescription involves a response plan, sufficient equipment and staff, and fuel reduction
projects, but also includes outreach and education to give the community the tools necessary to prevent
wildfires. The conditions for a catastrophic wildfire not only lie in the right combination of dry
vegetation, air temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity, but also in materials used in buildings
and spacing between fuel sources. Because most fires are caused by people, a key factor in preventing
wildfires is developing education programs to inform citizens of ignition sources and risks. Accordingly,
Cedar Hill’s CWPP includes the prescription of firewise and home owner education programs and a
“Firewise Family Guide” that allows families to create defensible space around their home. Due to
wildfire risk, Cedar Hill is looking to acquire more equipment (type VI brush and type III interface engine)
and build a new fire station. Staff will be trained, through the Texas Forest Service, in S-130 and S-190
wild land firefighting basics and risk assessment. Areas of most concern are those that interface
wildland and will be targeted for fuel reduction by means of shaded fuel breaks. Targeted areas include
two City parks, the state park, Dogwood Canyon, two subdivisions, and a major road. Shaded fuel
breaks entail the removal of understory vegetation and the majority of this work will be grant funded or
assisted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Forest Service.
Obstacles. Cedar Hill’s most current tree ordinance was adopted in 2007 and restricts the
removal of “any species of tree eight caliper inches or more in size and that is not an unprotected tree
species.” Cedar (juniper) trees, and other target trees, do not fall within the unprotected tree list and
can only be removed on an individual basis under approved circumstances and with a tree removal
permit. Jones recalls encountering an obstacle in establishing fuel reduction types, saying, “the tree
ordinance targets canopy versus reducing fuels and there needs to be a balance between preserving
tree canopy and the ecosystem.” Luckily, Jones continues, there’s a clause in City code that states “no
ordinance can supersede public safety.”
Plan implementation. Cedar Hill’s current fire chief, John Bollard, is assigned with the task of
implementation and must collaborate with responsible parties to get the ball rolling. The general
timeline is as follows

Briefing the City manager and council

Identifying community fuel reduction projects

Training responders for wildland firefighting and the fire department for risk assessment

Addressing equipment needs

Mitigation efforts
The CWPP was adopted in 2010 and today, the fire department is getting a start on educating the public
and training responders in wildland firefighting. The fire chief stated that in February of 2012 the first
prescribed burn was performed in the state park with the help of state agencies. A combination of
drought conditions in 2011 and a strict tree ordinance were obstacles in getting projects started,
however progress is being made. There is still a long road ahead to significantly reducing the risk of
wildfires, but the City of Cedar Hill is well on its way to protecting the community and valuable assets
from a disaster.