The HOA directors have been alerted to the fact that on at least two occasions, residents hiking our greenbelt trails have encountered teens / young adults with open fires in the heavily wooded area. It's impossible to overstate the danger to our community from this activity due to the lack of moisture, breezy conditions and abundance of naturally occurring fuel. The ease with which a fire could get out of control in these conditions coupled with the rugged terrain making firefighting access difficult means we are high risk of a possibly catastrophic situation developing.

These individuals may also be responsible for scorching our heritage oak on the greenbelt trail with fire.

Remains of a fire just off the upper trail between Brimfield and Trailhead Park.

Vandalism of our heritage oak below the Cinnabar trailhead.

Here are some steps you can take to help us deal with this situation:

* Please take your smartphone with you while hiking or biking the trails;
* If you encounter anyone in the trails with an open fire, call 911 immediately;
* If you are comfortable doing so, gather any identifying information you can, including photos.

It's imperative that we speak to these individuals so we need everyone in the community to help be our eyes and ears.

Update: ML Jakala and Russ Jakala (one of our board members) are organizing a trail patrol. Call ML at 512.587.7151 for details on how you can get involved in this effort.