The Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal has released information about burn bans due to severe heat and dry conditions.

Over the recent days, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office said that they have had a surge in inquiries regarding burn bans specific to individual parishes because of the severe heat and dry conditions.

LASFM indicated that if the information is not available on your local parish government’s website or their social media accounts, you can check the status from a map provided by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry:

Follow this link to view current burn bans in Louisiana.

At the time this was published, at least six parishes in Louisiana had instituted burn bans independently.

Facts about Burn Bans

Restrictions on open fire practices such as burning piles, burn barrels, and the like, specifically concerning lawful materials like vegetation, are covered under burn bans. These prohibitions, however, do not govern sanctioned farming activities, or recreational activities like the use of fire pits, campfires, or barbecue grills. 

The LASFM, in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, exclusively imposes multi-parish and comprehensive, statewide burn bans, but not on a parish-by-parish basis. A “multi-parish” ban usually pertains to at least five adjoining parishes dealing with a similar fire risk concurrently. These multi-parish and/or statewide prohibitions are typically enforced due to a prolonged threat of fire. 

Local parish governments have the authority to enforce parish-wide burn bans, and they have the right to exclude their respective parish from a statewide ban. Fire chiefs hold the power to permit individual exemptions to a statewide burn ban.

For further information on what you can legally burn or not in Louisiana, visit this webpage on the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s website.