Beauregard Parish wildfire, courtesy of Louisiana State Police Facebook page. August 2023.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office has lifted the burn ban that’s been in place since August 7th. Spokesperson Ashley Rodrigue said after conversations with the National Weather Service, local fire departments, and the Fire Service the decision was made to remove the ban.
“After seeing the rainfall totals from this past rain and knowing that there’s going to be another system coming through tomorrow, we were advised that if we wanted to go ahead and lift the burn ban, we could from a safety perspective,” said Rodrigue.
An anticipated El Nino pattern this winter to include above-average rainfall also played into the decision to lift the ban.
At the end of September, the burn ban was altered to allow parishes to make local decisions on the ban.
Even though the majority of the state remains under a drought, the extreme heat has waned. Rodrigue said the weather service advised them that the primary perfect storm elements that led to an unusually high outbreak of wildfires have dissipated.
“As well as literally the kind of air that we were experiencing that was just making fire act differently. That is now in its lowest of low statuses that it can be,” said Rodrigue.
With the ban lifted Rodrigue encourages residents to remain vigilant when conducting outdoor burns. She said to never leave what you are burning unattended, have a water source readily available, create a water ring around your burn…
“And really making sure that someone knows where you are and what you are doing. We have had some unfortunate situations this year and last year, of individuals who were just doing their normal conducting of open burning and something went wrong,” said Rodrigue.
Also, know what you can and cannot burn. For example, vegetation, leaves, branches, and grass clippings are allowed. Plastic, tires, paint, chemicals, newspaper, and cardboard are not permitted.
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