Here's today's update on the Tiger Island Fire; the fire is still estimated to be only 50 percent contained.
Louisiana Statewide Burn Ban: The state of Louisiana has declared a statewide burn ban to include any open flame outdoors. The message from the State Fire Marshal’s Office is “don’t burn anything” until further notice. Citations and arrests ARE happening across this state in partnership with local and state law enforcement agencies.
Tiger Island Fire: The Tiger Island Fire was first reported on Tuesday, August 22nd. The fire is located east of Merryville, south of Hwy 190, SW of DeRidder and North of Singer. The fire is burning in pine plantations of multiple ages. Access to portions of the fire area is difficult. Fuel loads in these pine plantations are high. Heavy residual fuels because of Hurricane Laura in 2020 exist and contribute to extreme fire behavior.
Acreage: 31,342 acres Containment: 50%
Personnel and Equipment: 263 total personnel; 1 Type-1 Crew; 4 Helicopters, 2 fixed-wing aircraft, 19 Type-6 Engines, 13 Type-2 Tractor Plow Units, 8 Dozers, 4 Water Tenders and 5 Ambulances. Additional support is being provided by the National Guard, Parish authorities, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal Team, Beauregard Sherriff’s office, and the Office of Emergency Preparedness. The National Guard is supporting with Black Hawk helicopters and 4 dozers and the fire response is using Large Air Tankers, Scoopers, and Air Attacks.
Operations: Thursday’s operations completed improvements of dozer lines around the entire fire perimeter to allow for engines access to extinguish any hot spots close to the fire edge. Engine crews began to access the fire perimeter to break up the heavy fuels and scatter previous storm debris, so that hot spots can be identified and extinguished. Crews also assisted local resources on a new fire start near Junction and were able to keep the new fire contained at a half acre. Operations Section Chief Peter Myers encouraged the crews this morning by saying “Everyone is doing a great job, and it is looking better every day.” Today, engine crews are focusing on areas of heat along Hoosier Creek and along State Route 110, along the northern perimeter by Nichols-Sibley Road and Stamps Road and along the eastern perimeter south of Neal-Oilfield Road. The structure protection group continues to work with local and state fire departments to be able to respond to all structure protection needs within the fire area.
Weather and Fire Behavior: After another morning of poor relative humidity recovery, a Red Flag Warning will go into effect from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. for hot, very dry conditions with wind gusts up to 15 mph. Temperatures will be warmer today and may reach 100 degrees, with humidity levels in the mid-20s. Early this evening a seabreeze is likely to set in. This will rapidly shift winds from the northeast to the southeast with gusts of 20-30 mph. Humidity will recover in the evening and overnight and there could be up to 100 percent humidity by Saturday morning.
Air Quality: Smoke may be visible in localized areas near the fire and on roads adjacent to it, especially in the Merryville area. If we have active fire behavior with fire progression, or new starts, there could be high levels of smoke for short durations in the vicinity of the fire. In the evening, after winds shift from northeast to southeast, there could be increased smoke toward Hwy. 190 and the community of Junction. For near time air quality information see EPA's Fire and Smoke Map: https://fire.airnow.gov/ [fire.airnow.gov]
Temporary Flight Restriction: A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) remains in place over the fire area; information is at Federal Aviation Administration [tfr.faa.gov] website. This is necessary to protect aerial operations. If there are intrusions into the Temporary Flight Restrictions, we must ground all aircraft.
Evacuations: Updates on evacuations and shelters can be found on the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/beauregardsheriff [facebook.com].
