Fort Worth urges residents to stay home as multi-day winter storm approaches

City of Fort Worth officials and regional partners held a press briefing to warn residents that a winter storm expected between 10 p.m. and midnight Friday could last three to four days and produce sleet, snow, ice and dangerously cold temperatures. Officials urged people to stay home, prepare for outages and check on vulnerable neighbors.

Emergency Management Director Sonny Saxton said the city’s emergency operations center is active and that the storm is being treated as "a public safety event." He advised residents to limit travel to essential trips only once conditions worsen and warned that bridges and elevated roadways will freeze first. "If you can stay home, please stay home and off the roads," Saxton said.

City transportation and public works have pre-treated priority routes with brine and stand ready to deploy up to 30 sanding trucks at a time on 12-hour shifts to keep hospital access points, bridges and major corridors passable. Val Lopez, public information officer for TxDOT’s Fort Worth District, said the district is running about 350 employees in shifts and has roughly 500,000 gallons of brine staged for use. "Brine is just one tool in that particular toolbox," Lopez said, noting TxDOT also uses salt, chemical deicers and sand.

Officials warned that ice accumulation poses a significant threat to electric service. City water and utility partners are staging crews and equipment across the region; Carrie Dunn of Encore said the company has increased line workers, tree trimming and inventory of transformers and poles. Chris Harder, water director, described infrastructure upgrades including replacement of cast-iron pipes and installation of backup power at vulnerable facilities; he said one plant has been converted to diesel backup power and seven generators are on order but will not arrive before this event.

Bethany Warner, assistant to the city manager for homeless strategies, outlined sheltering plans: the city’s emergency overnight overflow sheltering program (which runs October–March) will be used, with intake at existing shelters (Union Gospel Mission and Presbyterian Night Shelter) and escalation to overflow sites as needed. Warner said outreach teams and volunteers will canvass unsheltered people and offer bus passes and transport to shelters. "It will be dangerously cold. Please go to shelters," she said.

Parks and recreation director Dave Lewis said community centers will close Friday at 6 p.m. through Sunday as a safety precaution but can open as crisis centers for localized emergencies; the city also has five regional hubs to consolidate resources for larger-scale needs. Interim Fire Chief Raymond Hill cautioned against indoor use of grills, gas generators and propane heaters because of carbon monoxide risk and advised calling 911 for symptoms of poisoning.

Trinity Metro said it is monitoring conditions and is not planning service reductions now but may suspend service temporarily if weather makes operations unsafe; the agency urged riders to follow real-time rider alerts, the website and the GoPass app. Police leadership said deployment will focus on locations identified by the EOC and that additional officers will be brought in if needed.

Officials asked residents to follow only official city and partner channels for updates, to charge devices, have blankets and emergency supplies on hand, and to check on neighbors — especially seniors and those with medical needs. The city said it will continue providing updates as conditions change and that decisions about route openings and the use of certain technologies will be made in the EOC in the coming hours.