Caddo Parish Issues Mandatory Burn Ban Due To Extreme Heat And Drought
Considering the extremely high temperatures and the lack of rain in northwest Louisiana, it was no surprise late Monday, August 10, when Caddo Parish joined DeSoto Parish and issued a parish wide ban on any type of outdoor burning.
In a notice, the Caddo Parish Fire Chiefs Association announced the parish-wide burn ban, effective immediately, due to increasingly dry conditions throughout Caddo Parish. The notice goes on to explain the decision stating that the lack of adequate rainfall has resulted in extremely dry vegetation and increased fire danger across the parish. With no significant rainfall anticipated in the two-week forecast, conditions are expected to remain unfavorable for outdoor burning.
This means that all types of outdoor burning is now completely prohibited throughout Caddo Parish and residents are asked to refrain from burning leaves, brush, trash, debris, or conducting any other type of outdoor open burning.
READ MORE: Flash Drought Notice Likely For Most of Arklatex - What's That Mean?
The prohibited outdoor burning includes:
- Burn Piles
- Barrel Burns
- Campfires
- Fireworks
- Open Burning
These restrictions are being implemented to protect the lives and property of Caddo Parish residents and to reduce the risk of rapidly spreading grass, brush, and wildland fires.
The burn ban will remain in effect until weather and vegetation conditions improve sufficiently to allow outdoor burning to safely resume. The public will be notified when the burn ban is lifted.
Looking at the Louisiana Burn Ban Map provided by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Caddo and DeSoto parishes have joined the other north Louisiana parishes of Union and Caldwell in implementing these bans on outdoor burning, but given the forecast for the next week from the National Weather Service in Shreveport, it's extremely likely many other parishes will follow suit in the coming days.
Along with Caddo and DeSoto parishes, KTBS reports the following counties in east Texas and southern Arkansas are also under mandatory burn bans.
Texas
- Marion
- Panola
- Rusk
- Shelby
- Upshur
Arkansas
- Columbia
- Lafayette
- Hempstead
- Howard
- Miller
- Sevier