Aimee Yee

Daily Star Staff Writer

Due to downed timber, low humidity and no rain for 23 days, forestry firefighters say a big fire in Tangipahoa Parish is likely to happen, Incident Commander Bill Stewart said Tuesday.

A briefing on the dry situation took place Tuesday afternoon at the Louisiana Department of Forestry and Agriculture, where personnel from 14 states are gathered to evaluate and send teams out to fight any wildfires that may break out during October, one of Louisiana's driest and clearest months.

This parish is about 65 percent forested, with 31 percent of the land accounted for as pasture or cropland and 4 percent as wetlands, Stewart said.

Because no burn ban had been in effect before today, forestry firefighters are concerned.

Kirk Casanova of the state Department of Forestry and Agriculture said that a large fire is on the way.

"October is dry and clear already," Casanova said. "And we've been in a drought situation. There was no rain with Katrina and very little with Rita, plus all of the downed timber and low humidity means we've got very dry conditions."

Heavy equipment is in the parish now after being sent in from North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and Arkansas, he said.

Many of the fires firefighters have battled since arriving have been caused by debris burns, he said. Those fires likely started when homeowners began cleaning up their property after Hurricane Katrina.

"Tangipahoa's been busy," Jerry Lambert said, during the briefing.

Since the first of October, already there has been 41 fires covering about 191 acres, he said.

A prevention team is part of the crew, helping develop new concepts that could help prevent fires.

Many people could reduce the risk of debris fires simply by covering their mounds of leaves, limbs and fallen trees with a tarp until after a rain and then burning the piles, said Don Stadler, who heads the prevention crew.

"That's a valuable management tool," Stadler said. "Right now, there's 10 to 20 times the normal amount of fuel on the ground due to the storm. The conditions are ripe ... needles are red and the stuff that fell earlier is now dry."

The prevention crew examines the topography of an area, the types and conditions of fuel and predicts how a fire will burn, by direction, distance and intensity, he said.

"We watch conditions and determine if the line can be built before a fire arrives," said Kelly Allen a fire behavior analyst. "Sometimes we have time, and sometimes we have to move the line for safety. It helps us to determine whether we should ramp down or ramp up with our resources. It helps us determine what we'll need."

Firefighters are keeping a close watch on Hurricane Wilma, they said, because it's a fact that if the parish gets high winds along with the already dry conditions, fires could break out and spread quickly. That would be extremely scary, Casanova explained.

Each morning, firefighters gather for a briefing to look at conditions, manpower and resources, he said. Each division is given an assignment, by parish and a task.

Teams are able to conduct mop-ups, too, which means that there's less chance of rekindles or reignites, Casanova said.

"We work with local fire departments. They're our best partners. What we're doing allows them to focus on structure fires and medical emergencies," he said. "It frees them up. And we've got special heavy equipment with hurricane blades and helicopters, plus we've got teams on standby in case we need them."

After the briefing, firefighters loaded up and headed out to a wildfire on Chemekete Road in Robert, near Yogi Bear Campground. Firefighters had been battling the blaze for several hours in the rural area.

They are specifically stationed in Hammond to battle blazes in St. Tammany, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes.