RACELAND, La. — A huge debris fire off Highway 90 in Raceland, La., has been burning for more than a week now, leaving smoke in the air and soot everywhere. The fire started in a dump site run by the state government, but state and local first responders have been unable to extinguish the flames.
The local fire department tells WWL-TV that it does not have the resources to stop the flames on their own, and they must wait for the state to help. But while they wait, residents say they're dealing with a dangerous situation.
"It's inside the house. The smoke is so bad that we can't breathe. We can't sleep at night," resident Amelia Gutherie said, adding that her daughter who lives next door has gotten sick from the smoke.
"It should have never got to this," Gutherie's neighbor Scott Robichaux said.
According to the Lafourche Parish Fire Chief for District 1 and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the area was used as a dump site in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The site, which is run by the state includes material, trees and mulch making up the 15-20 foot high flammable piles of debris.
Robichaux said he tried to stop the state from dumping the debris there, instead pointing them to a parish dump site down the road.
"They should've been put there instead of close to people's homes," Robichaux said.
Instead, residents are left to deal with heavy smoke and soot everywhere, impacting their homes, pets and livelihoods.
"All of my clothes, my air conditioning ducts, my truck, everything we own here is destroyed with smoke," Robichaux said.
"We were afraid that the wind would blow something on top of our roof and catch our house on fire," Gutherie said.
On Tuesday night, that's nearly what happened. Neighbors say embers from the debris fire started a small fire in one front yard. No one could confirm the cause of the fire, and the chief told WWL-TV that it was ruled undetermined, but he could not rule out the possibility of self combustion.
With little resources, the volunteer fire crew can't get into the debris pile to extinguish the now deep rooted flames. So the residents and fire chief are left to wait until the fire smolders out on it's own.
"Don't like it. I'm scared of getting sick. I feel it. I feel it in my chest," Gutherie said.
"This pile is probably 60 foot tall and about 70 yards long. It'll take months for this to go out," Robichaux said.
The fire chief says without the necessary equipment, the only solutions is to shut down the highway for three days and get assistance from all fire departments in the parish to fight the fire.
For now, he is waiting on DOTD and the Department of Environmental Quality to make a move.
The wait is unbearable.
"We need this out, we're afraid for our health and our homes going to catch on fire. We just need help," Gutherie said.
Parish President Archie Chaisson declined to comment on the dire situation, and referred any questions to the state government and DOTD.
A spokesperson for the DOTD said that the debris contractor is working to bring equipment to the site to address the fire.
"Excavators will be used to get to the source. It is believed that the site will burn itself out, but water could be applied as long as it does not create an abundance of excess smoke," the statement said.
It is still unclear how long it will take for the fire to burn out. Community members say they plan to take legal action.
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