Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain, D.V.M., said a multi-parish burn ban issued after Hurricane Laura remains in effect.
“I’d like to remind everyone that a burn ban is still in place," said Strain. "Between dry conditions, areas that are still struggling to get water systems up and running again and rural fire departments in which resources are already stretched, it is important that citizens abide by the burn ban restrictions. What we do not need are people burning piles of debris and those fires getting out of control with limited resources to put out those fires.”
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) is currently working with the timber industry to establish damage assessments post Hurricane Laura. Timber is the largest commodity in the state valued at approximately $3.5 billion. At the end of August, Strain and State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning issued a cease and desists order for all private burning, pursuant to authority under R.S. 40:1602, for the following parishes: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Cameron, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, LaSalle, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Sabine, Union, Vernon and Winn.
The ban does not apply to prescribed burns by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), by those trained and certified by the LDAF, or by those who conduct prescribed burning as a “generally accepted agriculture practice” as defined by the Louisiana Right to Farm Law (R.S. 3:3601 et seq.)
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