Mandatory evacuation orders remained in place Saturday for several Louisiana communities as efforts to battle the Tiger Island fire in Beauregard Parish continued.
As of Saturday, the Forestry Department reported that containment remained at about 50%, but was improving.
Twelve residential structures were destroyed in the fire, but no injuries or loss of life were reported, according to the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
More than 30,000 acres have burned since local fire departments, volunteers and the National Guard began battling the blaze, which began Tuesday morning.
By Wednesday, the first mandatory evacuations were issued for parts of Singer, Louisiana, with evacuation orders issued for other communities in the following days.
“It’s burning really hard,” said Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry. “It’s moving quite fast, and you can feel the air rising. That’s from the heat of the fire drawing air into the fire.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he has deployed 89 firefighters, paramedics and emergency management personnel along with emergency response resources to Louisiana to help fight the devastating wildfires burning near the Texas-Louisiana border and across the Pelican State.
“Texas has deployed firefighters, emergency response personnel and resources to help our neighbors in Louisiana respond to the devastating wildfires,” Abbott said. “Just as the State of Louisiana offered their support and assistance during Hurricane Harvey six years ago, Texas quickly provided the personnel and resources our neighbors needed to fight these devastating wildfires impacting their state.”
‘Biggest fire hazard’ since 2000
More than 30,000 acres have burned in the Pulau Harimau fire. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
Air tankers and helicopters dropped water and fire retardant on the fire. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
High temperatures, drought and variable winds prompted the NWS to issue a Fire Weather Warning through Friday night for critical to extreme fire weather conditions.
“This is quickly becoming the greatest fire danger threat this area has had since the summer of 2000,” the National Weather Service’s Lake Charles office warned. “Fire can spread quickly in these conditions.”
It’s not just fire that firefighters face but extreme heat.
Merryville hit a high of 109 on Thursday. With the humidity, the temperature felt like 118, according to the NWS.
The Forestry Department reports that containment remains at about 50%. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
“It’s hot. The fire is hot. It’s 109 degrees out here, and you can feel the heat and the intensity of the fire so far,” Strain said from the command post.
Crews are trying to extinguish the fire to stop it from spreading
Air tankers and helicopters are dropping water and fire retardant on the flames to try to push the flames out of the treetops, where flames are particularly difficult to contain, Strain said.
“It’s going to jump the road, and also, what happens when it’s hot and high in the trees, it’s going to throw a field of debris into the air,” Strain said on social media. “From this fire, they have found burning embers 20 miles away.”
Twelve residential structures were lost in the fire, but no injuries or loss of life were reported. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
State officials have appealed to the public in all media to comply with the burning ban.
“Everybody here, every man and woman here in this fire is putting their lives on the line, you know, to save the community and their families and the property here,” Strain added.
Struggle for water pressure
Nearly 360 wildfires have broken out so far this August in Louisiana. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry
Water pressure was another challenge firefighters faced as neighbors tried to help by using their personal water hoses to put out the fire, according to the sheriff.
But that lowers the pressure and volume of water for real firefighters.
“People in the community trying to use their personal water hoses to fight the fire are making it very difficult to get the fire agencies here on the scene to get water to use to fight the fire,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post. “Volume and pressure have become a MAJOR issue.”
Almost 360 forest fires have occurred so far this August across the state.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
