NEW ORLEANS — Friday evening crews were still battling a wildfire that is ripping through Bayou Sauvage in New Orleans East.
The fire started a week ago and crews have been working tirelessly to get it under control. We showed aerials from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this week. According to the agency, Since Sunday, more than 430 acres have burned out here at Bayou Sauvage.
Crews have significantly reduced the blaze out at Bayou Sauvage but there are still some flare ups, that's why a helicopter pilot is dropping 189 gallons of water on those flare ups. Refuge Manager Pon Dixson, says the heat combined with dry vegetation is making it harder to get the fire under control.
Dixson said, "We don't see an active flames with this fire, yesterday we had a flare up on it... we dropped 48 buckets of water onto it."
He went on to say the city is well below the amount of rain we normally get this time of year, "We're about 20 inches below normal this time of year for the city of New Orleans, that translates into extreme drought conditions out here at the refuge."
He says a lightning strike caused the fire, and that it could continue to burn for a few more days.
"We have an Infrared drone coming in and we're going to fly over the area to look at the heat signatures from that drone to determine if there are any hot spots under the ground," said Dixson.