ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — Over the past few months, multiple marsh fires have swept through Southeast Louisiana. One started burning in Slidell on Thursday night. One man who lives on the bayou, who used his boat motor to fight the flames.
“We kept hearing all of these pops,” Benjamin said. “But I mean, we didn't think anything of it.”
Barras was out grabbing dinner with a friend when a bartender came running towards him.
“The bartender is like marsh is on fire, like literally like right behind your house,” Barras said.
When they got back and saw how close the flames were to Barra’s home, they didn’t think there was time to wait for help.
“He turns his, head around the corner and he's like, ‘What's what's going on?’ I'm like, jump in the boat,” Barras said.
They were out until around 4 a.m. in the morning trying to tame the flames using just the motor from his boat, a technique he says was surprisingly effective.
“So, we started just fanning the fan in the water with the motor back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And we actually noticed that it was actually helping,” Barras said.
St. Tammany parish Fire District was able to get the fires under control on Friday afternoon, but they’re still not sure what caused it.
“We’re expecting there to be smoke, especially now that it's dark,” St. Tammany Fire District PIO, Jason Gaubert said. “But just know that we're continuously monitoring the situation and prepared to respond.
Barras has lived in his house through several hurricanes. He said rain, shine, or fire, he’ll never leave the bayou.
“Everybody down this canal, they all stick together,” Barras said. “Everybody's like family down. And it's just one of the main reasons why I love living out here in the body.”
As we enter the holiday weekend, St. Tammany Fire District reminds us to exercise caution, especially when it comes to fireworks.
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