Nola Reporter

NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans today announced that the wildfire burning underground in forested wetlands on private property between Bayou Sauvage National Urban Wildlife Refuge and the Michoud Canal is approximately 90 percent extinguished. The smoke currently emanating from the impacted area is minimal and no longer poses a threat to the air quality in the surrounding area.  

The New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD), New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP), Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) have all be coordinating efforts to address this situation. 

Because the fire is deep inside a hard-to-access part of the wetland and there is no fire hydrant service to the area, NOFD worked with the property owner and LDAF to clear stable access and deploy heavy equipment. LDAF also used excavation equipment to cut additional fire lines and dig trenches to flood the interior areas of the property where the fire is burning underground. With close guidance from federal and state partners, NOFD was strongly advised to pump massive amounts of water to the areas to saturate the wildfire that is burning underground. This tactic seemed to be the most successful in containing and eventually extinguishing the majority of the fire. At the height of mitigation efforts, there were nine pumps on site producing a total of 1.5 million gallons of water per hour from nearby drainage canals to flood the impacted area.  

The Harvey Volunteer Department loaned NOFD one Marsh ATV vehicle that carried 60 gallons of water, while the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) also assisted by providing message boards along nearby interstates to advise increased precaution where smoke was mixing with fog and causing dangerous driving conditions. These signs will stay in place until the fire is completely extinguished. 

Two NOFD Fire Operations personnel remain actively involved in suppression efforts. Only one pump remains in operation, and a 200-gallon tanker vehicle has been deployed, giving the on-site personnel the mobility to easily reach those few areas where light smoke remains visible.   

As the City continues to monitor this incident, residents are encouraged to sign up for NOLA Ready emergency text alerts by texting NOLAREADY to 77295.  

Original source can be found here.