FRANKLINTON, La. — Local and state officials are begging Louisiana residents to follow the current burn ban, after a massive fire killed a man in Franklinton.
Flames were still crackling Friday, 24 hours after the firefighters showed up. According to the state fire marshal, a man, believed to be the 72-year-old owner of the home, died.
WWLTV was there when Franklinton Mayor Greg Route saw the rubble for the first time.
“This is terrible. This is bad,” Route said. “It’s different when you see it in person. Words can’t even explain how bad this is and you just have to feel sorry for the person who was inside of here, it’s really really sad. I’ve seen a lot of house fires but nothing like this.”
The state fire marshal believes the fire started at a different location, then engulfed the home.
“There was just nowhere for us to go. You just duck your head and spray water that’s all we could do,” Franklinton Fire Chief Brandon Lasalle said.
Lasalle says the flames were massive and says the hot conditions made it harder to fight. Plus, most of the parishes' fire departments are volunteer.
“It doesn’t make it any easier,” Lasalle said. “Everyone has a job you can’t say oh well there’s a brush fire we’re going to have 50 people here because that’s not a given. So yeah that’s stressful.”
But Mayor Route was still grateful for the quick response by multiple agencies.
“You hate to see something like this especially this time how dry it is, this could be really really worse, other homes could’ve been caught,” Route said.
Franklinton officials are urging everyone to please follow the burn ban, they say Thursday’s fire is exactly what they’re trying to prevent.
“I tell everybody you all have social media we all watch the news, if you know and your neighbor doesn’t, you need to tell them,” Lasalle said.
There’s also a burn ban in effect for Hancock County.
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