NEW ORLEANS — An aerial view of the New Orleans East wildfire shows an eerie sight as smoke rises out of the blackened marshland.
The fire is burning underground, spreading across the 200-acre site.
“Keep putting a lot of water on the property, saturate the ground, that’s the only way to get this fire out,” NOFD Superintendent Roman Nelson said.
On Tuesday, there were eight pumps, spreading tens of thousands of gallons of water per minute onto the land from nearby canals.
The Sewerage and Water Board and Army Corps of Engineers supplied the equipment.
“This has been going on now for almost three weeks, this fight,” New Orleans Homeland Security Director Collin Arnold said. “I think that we are doing everything that we can based on the guidance we’re given from the experts.”
Tuesday, smoke from the fire mixed with fog creating a dangerous, low visibility situation on I-10 near Irish Bayou.
The burn presents a unique set of challenges for a department trained to fight structure fires, not wildfires.
It is in a remote area off Chef Highway, near Bayou Sauvage.
Chief Nelson says his fire trucks can’t get close to fire.
“The property is bounded by pipelines on either side. One with natural gas and one with fuel. There’s a railroad on another side and three sides are the property are bounded by canals.”
Arnold is asking drivers to slow down in the east, especially during early to mid-morning when foggy, smoky conditions can appear without warning.
“The best thing right now is for people to absolutely use caution,” Arnold said. “Assume when you’re leaving this week that you may run into fog and when you do run into fog, you need to really slow down.”
City officials are now seeking additional state and federal assistance to help put out this fire.
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