Hays County emergency alerts cause confusion during Tuesday's wildfires

Alerts and multiple evacuation orders in Hays County left people confused Tuesday as wildfires broke out across the region.

Initial push alerts and posts from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office about a wildfire east of Buda didn’t explicitly mention a fire, but referred to an “ongoing incident” and instructed people within a 3-mile radius to evacuate.

Toni Palmeri said he was 30 miles away in a restaurant when multiple phones started ringing with alerts to evacuate.

“We were all left to speculate on what the ‘incident’ was,” said Palmeri, who lives near Dripping Springs. “A chemical explosion? Civil unrest? Who knows?”

A second fire, on the other side of I-35, began burning that same afternoon along Onion Creek in western Kyle.

Several county offices, including the Hays County Office of Emergency Services and the Sheriff’s Office, posted information about the fires on Facebook throughout the evening.

When more push alerts were sent out about the fires, Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito said, there was confusion about which evacuation orders pertained to which fire.

“ It was just a perfect storm with fires in different portions of the county and evacuations suggested in different parts of the county,” he said. “It just put a strain on resources.”

In a statement, the sheriff’s office said the department recognizes it was vague to use the term “incident.” The department updated its initial Facebook post on the fire east of Buda to share more accurate information.

“Emergencies of this scale necessitate involvement from various responders, and there are always areas for improvements,” the statement read. “We are collaborating to improve the delivery of information in a timely, accurate, and consistent manner in the future.”

Caleb Peters watched the Onion Creek Fire unfold Tuesday from Sage Hill Inn & Spa, where he works as a groundskeeper. He said he relied on the app Watch Duty for information about what was happening.

“ I got updates from that before I got any sort of emergency alert,” he said. “That was pretty integral in my understanding of what was happening.”

Peters said he didn’t see any of the social media updates from Hays County departments and instead relied on his app and push alerts from the sheriff’s office. In general, he said, social media has made communication much more efficient, but it also has led to “a lot more noise.”

 ”Which creates a lot more confusion, especially in situations like this, where, to-the-minute information is necessary,” he said. “ Local government and community communication has to be better.”

The Onion Creek Fire burned about 190 acres and was 80% contained within a day after it started, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. No structures were burned.

Hipolito said he was glad the fire department was able to act quickly to stop the fire from progressing.

“ I’m glad that we experienced this type of situation,” he said. “This is a good one to learn from.”

Following the fires, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra issued a burn ban across all of Hays County effective immediately until March 12.