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The 37-acre brush fire that broke out off Parmer Lane on Aug. 8 has been fully contained as of Aug. 10, according to the city of Cedar Park.

The specifics

In the days following the fire, local emergency responders were continuing to work toward completely containing the fire with assistance from Texas A&M Forest Services bulldozers, which were creating a containment line around the perimeter to prevent the fire from spreading, Cedar Park fire Chief James Mallinger said.

Residents will continue to see firefighters in the area over the next few days as they continue to monitor conditions, according to the city.

What happened

The fire broke out around 6 p.m. Aug. 8 out near the Bexley at Silverado apartment complex at 12820 W. Parmer Lane, Cedar Park and completely destroyed one 24-unit apartment building, city officials said. Two other buildings were partially damaged with two units experiencing fire damage in one building and 12 units in another.

Firefighters were able to protect Whitestone Landing Townhomes, located at 3240 E. Whitestone Blvd., Cedar Park, according to the city.

What you need to know

Shelter and services from the American Red Cross are available at Hill Country Bible Church, 12124 N. RM 620, Austin, for residents in need of assistance or by calling 800-733-2767. The Austin Disaster Relief Network will provide hygiene kits, Hope Family Thrift Store vouchers and additional supplies for evacuated residents, and is accepting clothing donations at 13801 Burnet Road, Ste. 200, Austin.

The city has collaborated with the Central Texas Community Foundation with a goal of raising $100,000 for residents impacted by the fire. Click here to donate to the Parmer Lane Fire Recovery Fund.

Editor

Grace joined Community Impact in 2021 and is the editor for Cedar Park-Far Northwest Austin and North-Northwest Austin. She previously covered education, city government and business news for the Lake Travis-Westlake edition before becoming an editor in 2022. Grace graduated from The University of Texas in 2021 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and geography.

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Scheels is expanding its reach in the Lone Star state.

The sporting goods retailer, known for its mega-sized stores filled with all sorts of fun attractions, will open a location in fall 2026 at CedarView in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park, Texas.

Construction will start early next year on the 240,000-sq.-ft.-store, which will be Scheels' 35th location. The company currently has 32 stores with two others scheduled to open in 2024, in Meridian, Idaho and Tulsa, Okla. It recently opened a 250,000-sq.-ft. locationat Macerich’s Chandler Fashion Center, Chandler, Ariz.,

Scheels will serve as the second core anchor in the new CedarView development, along with Nebraska Furniture Mart, which plans to open a 1.2 million-sq.-ft. store and warehouse there (also in 2026). The large development, which is near the H-E-B Center, will also feature a convention center and hotel.

The Cedar Park Scheels will stock more than one million pieces of inventory throughout 75 in-store specialty shops. And similar to the retailer’s existing stores, it will feature plenty of family-friendly attractions, including a 65-foot Ferris Wheel, a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium with more than 600 fish, a wildlife mountain and Fuzziwig's Candy Shop.

Additional attractions will include interactive arcade games and sports simulators. An in-house resturant, Ginna's Cafe, will serve gourmet soups and sandwiches and more.

The new location will be Scheels' second store in Texas. It opened a location in 2020 in the north Dallas suburb of The Colony.

“The people of North Texas have welcomed Scheelswith open arms and we could not be more excited to bring another location to the state," said Steve M. Scheel, CEO, Scheels. "Our location in The Colony at Grandscape is another NFM development, and we could not pass up the opportunity to work alongside the NFM team again. We look forward to building upon our partnership and bringing another unmatched retail experience to the Austin community when we open our doors in Cedar Park."

"Scheels is a one-of-a-kind destination retail experience that showcases not only an incredible selection of the best brands, but also the best in customer service," said Nebraska Furniture Mart chief strategy and development officer Jeff Lind. "They truly offer a unique experience in the area of sporting goods and so much more. I'm so proud to welcome them to CedarView and look forward to them being neighbors of NFM."

Scheels traces its history back to 1902, when Frederick A. Scheel, a German immigrant, used the $300 he earned from his first harvest as the down payment on small hardware store in Sabin, Minn. Over the years, Scheels opened in surrounding communities and sports lines were added to the product mix.

Steve D. Scheel, the great grandson of Scheels founder, is the company's chairman, and great-great grandson Steve M. Scheel is is CEO. Todd Anderson serves as president and oversees daily operations of more than 11,000 associates.

Scheels currently as 32 stores in 14 states including North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Nevada, Illinois, Utah, Kansas, Colorado, Texas and Arizona

CEDAR PARK, Texas — Neighbors in cedar park say when the Parmer Lane Fire began, it spread in minutes. Ash and embers were falling like rain.

“You know, the big green trash cans that we use. They're literally melted into a puddle and they were right up next to the house,” said Rob Solis, who’s lived in Cedar Park for years.

Rob Solis is being described by his neighbors as a hero. Instead of leaving, he ran from house to house turning on hose bibs and putting out the hot spots across his neighbors’ yards.

“Apparently I'm on a number of security cameras, which is kind of funny,” said Rob.

The community support extending all across the neighborhood.

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KEYE

“Some lady pulled up right here in a gold pickup truck and started helping me and I said do you live here in the neighborhood? And she says no, I work in Dos Salsas. And I was driving by and I figured maybe I could help. So she was here with me for a good hour,” said Rob,

“I mean, random citizens were coming by and helping out. It was it was pretty cool.”

Susie Wulf and her husband Ryan were alerted to the fire by an unlikely hero. They say an Amazon driver laid on their horn, first alerting them to the blaze. Their HOA president came by and knocked as well.

“My husband went outside and came back in,” said Susie, “we saw it, it looked like snow.”

The flames were spreading so quickly that the two left immediately with just what they had on them. They returned today to the charred remnants of their backyard.

“I’m getting all choked up but it’s scary. It was scary,” said Susie.

Just beyond their backyards, the nearby apartments were heavily damaged. The neighbors here, like Susie, Rob, and Ryan, credit the prompt arrival of fire fire fighters for them still having something to come home to.

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“I’m shocked that we still have a house,” said Ryan.

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The City of Cedar Park has enacted stricter water conservation measures.

Under Stage 3, starting on Aug. 14, Cedar Park water customers may only water outside one designated day per week. There will also be a temporary water conservation rate adjustment.

The City says it will allow time for residents to adjust their automatic irrigation systems and reduce usage before they will begin enforcement of Stage 3 on Monday, Sept. 4.

When can I water my lawn and outdoor plants?

Residents will now be allowed to water outdoors on the following schedule:

All commercial addresses, including apartment complexes and HOA-owned property addresses will water in Tuesdays.

Customers may water before 10 a.m. and/or after 7 p.m. on their designated day. All customers with automatic irrigation systems should program their system according to the above schedule and times.

For more information, click here.

What is the temporary water conservation rate adjustment?

As part of Stage 3, the city is implementing a temporary water conservation rate adjustment.

The adjustment will be implemented in September and reflected in residents' utility bills starting in October.

The rate is meant to further encourage residents to reduce water usage as requested, and those who do should not see an overall increase in their monthly utility bill.

Customers can monitor their water use through the City’s Digital Metering Portal. The City of Cedar Park is encouraging residents to click here and sign up to see their usage in near-real-time, set thresholds and set alerts.

The temporary water conservation rate adjustment also helps maintain adequate funding for the water utility to ensure that the City is able to maintain operations and continue to deliver safe and high quality drinking water.

Why is Cedar Park in Stage 3?

The City of Cedar Park says Stage 3 was triggered by the low combined lake levels in Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan. Lake Travis, which is managed by the LCRA, is the city's sole water supply.

Per the city's drought contingency plan, the LCRA calls for the city to reduce its overall consumption by 10 to 20 percent once the combined storage levels of Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan reach 900,000-acre-feet.

Those levels have fallen below that threshold, says the city.

Cedar Park residents clean up after storms

Cedar Park residents had to work quickly this afternoon to patch their roofs and walls damaged by Thursday morning's storms, all in preparation for tonight's storms.

CEDAR PARK, Texas - People who live in Cedar Park had to work quickly Thursday afternoon to patch their roofs and walls before the next storm blew in.

"We have been busy since it turned daylight right after the storm hit," said Chris Dunn, a roof specialist for Kingfisher Roofing. "I've just been going around, knocking on doors in this neighborhood and another neighborhood close to here, trying to help homeowners. A lot of wind damage, a lot of shingles are missing, so we're trying to get those roofs tarped before the rain comes in."

Roofers scattered across the neighborhood, including Brenden Reaux, who's even dealing with his own storm damage.

"It just seemed like quite the crazy storm," said Reaux, who lives in the neighborhood and works for The Roofing Clinic. "It blew down this fence. It sent a shipping container flying from the construction site clear across Bagdad Road. Looked like it went tumbling, you know, full-semi tractor trailer and, yeah, it was a pretty intense storm."

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Winds knocked down part of his fence and damaged neighborhood trees.

"Within like one minute of that hail intensifying, it just got insane wind speed," said Reaux. "I mean, it must have been 200 miles an hour."

Not far away, those winds created a startling wake up call for Nancy Maldonado and her family.

"I heard a bunch of like hail," said Maldonado. "It sounded like hail and a lot of wind, and then there was a point where there was lightning."

That’s when she said she felt the house shake and the power turned off.

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Austin weather: Level 1 risk of severe storms

Keep your umbrella handy. There's going to be rain and storms on and off Thursday. Zack Shields takes a look at the radar in his full forecast.

"When we were checking the area just to see like if anything happened, I noticed the huge wall in our kitchen, so I don't know when it happened, if it happened around 3 or 4, but it was pretty like wild. I didn't expect that to happen."

A tree punctured through her kitchen wall.

She said the hole was patched up shortly after, just in time for the next storm, which rolled in a few hours later.

"I'm just glad that everyone's safe and it didn't cause like extreme, extreme damage," said Maldonado.