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weather and increased demand for water. The Mitigation Planning Committee did not identify utility disruption or power shortage as a major problem in Hays County I A utility crisis could be precipitated from a number of hazards such as flooding, fire, lightning strike, tornado, explosion, hazard material incident and others. Many of the assistance programs that communities rely on require the availability of electric and water utilities. IT the utility fails, so do many of the potential mitigation activities. 2.15 Urban Fire Hazard Identification: Urban fires occur primarily in urbanized cities and towns. Due to the relatively higher density in urbanized areas as compared to rural areas, urban fires have a higher potential to rapidly spread to and damage adjoining structures. Urban fires can damage and destroy residences, schools, commercial buildings, public facilities, and vehicles, and they can be triggered by natural occurrences, such as lightning and earthquakes, and human contributors such as cooking, heating, smoking and arson. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the United States has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world. Each year, fire kills more Americans than all natural disasters combined. Also, according to the National Fire Protection Association: I . At least 80% of all fire deaths occur in residences . In 2001, direct property loss due to fires was an estimated $10.6 billion . In 2001, there were ] ,734,500 fires reported in the U.S. and, of these, 30% were structure fires . Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and the leading cause of home fire injuries . Careless smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths . Arson is the second leading cause of residential fires and residential fire deaths . Arson is the leading cause of deaths, injuries, and dollar losses in commercial fires . The elderly and young children have the greatest risk of fire death In Texas during 200], there were 74,6]4 fires, or a fire every 7 minutes, reported to the Texas Fire Incident Reporting System (TEXFIRS). Of these, there were 2] ,033 fires in structures, resulting in 96 deaths, ] ,066 injuries and $322 million in property damage. A structure fire occurred every 25 minutes, and 76% of all structure fires occurred in residential properties. Source: TEXFIRS, January 2003 The Hays County Mitigation Planning Committee classified urban fire as "substantial" in severity and "occasional" in frequency. Urban fire is considered a separate hazard from wildfire primarily due to developed versus undeveloped areas in Hays County. Overall, Hays County is considered a rural county based on the 2004-2005 Texas Almanac which shows the Hays County population as lO9,570 with an average of ] 61 persons per square mile over the I 679 square mile county area. The City of San Marcos is the largest community with 39,936 population (see Table] Population Trends). Hays counl~', Texas Mitigation Plan 85