BATON ROUGE — With burn bans already in place for most of the state and a state of emergency declared because of the heat, the National Weather Service (NWS) is warning residents about critical fire conditions.
The NWS has issued a ‘Red Flag Warning’ for much of southeastern Louisiana, including Livingston Parish. Red flag warnings mean critical fire conditions, in this case brought on by extended drought-like conditions, little to no rain in previous days or the future forecast, and winds up to 20 miles per hour. Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly.
According to the NWS, humidity also remains uncharacteristically low for the area, especially for August, hovering around 30 percent according to the NWS.
The warning started at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 21, and will extend to 8 p.m. August 22.
On Aug. 18, Livingston Parish firefighters battled three blazes in the area, one that spread to an acre wide before it was extinguished.
Fire District 4 responded to two fires. One was on John Lanier Rd. near Weiss Rd. The fire started as a grass fire and spread to one acre wide. The other was at Burgess Rd. near Crossover Road in Walker. It came out as a trash fire and spread into the woods.
“Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly,” the NWS alert stated. “Conditions are critical and we are issuing this warning in tandem with statewide burn bans.”
According to The Weather Channel, Baton Rouge is expected to see daily high temperature of 100 degrees or higher for seven straight days, beginning Tuesday.
The heat and dry temperatures have caused negative impacts on infrastructure, agriculture and much more.
Red flag affected areas include:
- Central Tangipahoa
- East Baton Rouge
- East Feliciana
- Lower Tangipahoa
- Northern Livingston
- Northern St. Tammany
- Northern Tangipahoa
- Pointe Coupee
- Southeast St. Tammany
- Southern Livingston
- Southwestern St. Tammany
- St. Helena
- Washington
- West Baton Rouge
- West Feliciana
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