East Feliciana Parish Police Jury President Louis Kent urged parish residents Tuesday to heed a ban on open outdoor burning after parish firefighters battled 15 separate blazes on La. 67 north of Clinton earlier in the day.
“Please don’t burn,” Kent said during the jury’s meeting.
Kent put a “burn ban” into effect on Oct. 16 because of the current drought-like conditions.
Homeland Security Director Darryl Buhler said state forestry officials are investigating the cause for the La. 67 fires, which burned on the west side of the highway from La. 432 south to near the Clinton corporate limits.
Kent noted that he was delayed in getting to the jury meeting because the highway was shut down as firefighters from several departments worked to bring the fires under control.
Buhler said the parish has had 30 wildfires since the burn ban went into effect and as long as the dry, windy conditions persist, the number of fires in 2024 may surpass the 79 recorded in all of last year.
Firefighters from two departments returned to La. 67, also known as Liberty Highway, Wednesday to extinguish the “hot spots” that they could reach, Buhler said.
Firefighters also battled five separate fires on La. 19 between La. 963 and Wilson on Saturday, Buhler said.
During the meeting, the jury introduced an ordinance to abandon a portion of Beaver Creek Road, which has been closed to through traffic since a bridge was closed years ago.
A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 18.
The jury also approved contracts for grant administration, environmental services and engineering in connection with funding applications for clearing debris and trees from stretches of the Comite River north and south of La. 10.
The money, if granted, would come through the Louisiana Watershed Initiative, a flood relief program administered by several state agencies and funded with a $1.2 billion federal grant.
Parish Manager David Amrhein said the $26 million project may not feasible if dredging will be needed to get the desired cost-benefit ratio for spending federal flood relief funds. Dredging also would involve getting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he said.