NEW ORLEANS — Extreme drought conditions have at least a dozen wildfires burning in multiple parishes across Louisiana.
A northwestern wind is carrying smoke from all those fires to many southeast Louisiana parishes Sunday morning.
Our WWL-TV Weather Center tower camera located in Gretna shows a gray smoke haze blanketing the New Orleans skyline.
Police departments in Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Orleans parishes received complaint calls of poor air quality and the smell of something burning in the area.
The largest Louisiana wildfire is burning in Beauregard Parish. Parish officials there issued a mandatory evacuation Thursday evening as firefighters battle the Tiger Island fire.
According to data from the Wildfire Aware website, the Tiger Island fire is about 50% contained as of Sunday and has burned an estimated 31,000 acres over the four days it has been burning.
In Vernon Parish, the Ida wildfire is about 7% contained and in Orleans Parish, the Black Lagoon wildfire continues to smolder in New Orleans marsh as it is about 90% contained according to data from Wildfire Aware.
The fires combined with the winds are causing poor air quality across the metro New Orleans area. Data from AirNow.gov shows that air quality could be harmful to people sensitive to air pollutants.
The Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal has issued a statewide Burn Ban due to extreme drought and the potential for more wildfires.
“The unprecedented dry conditions across the state have to be acknowledged,” LDEQ Secretary Roger Gingles said last week. “And the burn ban issued by State Fire Marshal Dan Wallis is clear: no open burning is safe.”
On Sunday, Governor John Bel Edwards and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness announced that FEMA has approved the governor’s request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant declaration which will aid the state’s effort in fighting the wildfires.
“We remain in constant communication with all of our federal partners and are grateful for their quick approval of our request for assistance to help Vernon Parish combat these dangerous wildfires," Gov. Edwards said. "The conditions Louisiana is facing are unprecedented, and unfortunately there is no evidence it’s going to end any time soon.”
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