Grass fires keep Vermilion Parish fire departments busy

In response to recent windy and dry conditions, the State Fire Marshal’s Office issued Tuesday afternoon a statewide burn advisory.
“Our state has experienced an excessive number of out of control brush fires directly related to the intentional burning of trash and debris,” said State Fire Marshal Butch Browning.
Browning’s office did not go as far as to implement a burn ban, but is asking residents to refrain from burning until the state sees enough rain to improve the dry conditions. At any time that burning occurs, Browning urges that proper precautions be taken.
The recent conditions have affected Vermilion Parish. Volunteer fire departments around the area are seeing an increase in grass fires in recent weeks.
“We were running a call for one yesterday,” Maurice Fire Chief Matthew Trahan said Tuesday morning. “While we were responding to that one, there were four more in other fire districts.
“We’ve had more grass fires in the last two months than we had the previous year and a half.”
Trahan said that comes down to one issue.
“The conditions are right,” Trahan said. “Everything at the top (of the ground) is dry because the wind is blowing hard.”
That is causing controlled burns to spread. Lack of focus also plays a role.
“Someone starts a ‘controlled burn’ and then they don’t pay attention,” Trahan said. “They are not paying attention to the wind or how dry their neighbor’s field is. They are not paying attention to how dry it is in general. They look at it the same way they did last year. They did it then and it was fine.
“They don’t understand how dry it is this year.”
Trahan made clear that none of the recent fires are a result of sugarcane farmers.
“The first thing that comes up is that the cane farmers can do it,” Trahan said of responses he receives on grass fire calls. “Yes, they can. People need to understand that these guys (farmers) went to class. They were taught when and when not to burn.
“These issues we are having are not because of cane farmers.”
The cane farmers are well prepared prior to any burning.
“We have a system set up with the farmers,” Trahan said. “They call us and say when and where they are going to be burning. They also let 911 know so that if they get a call for that site, it is known that it is a cane fire. If officials get a call, they can contact the farmer to make sure that it is under control.
“It has cut down on false alarms because there are some who have never seen a cane fire and think it must be a field fire.”
As for anyone who burns, Browning said that anyone who starts a burn that leads to damage to property or risks injury or death to humans will face criminal charges. Trahan said a grass fire last week could have caused such a situation.
“We had one on (U.S. Hwy.) 167 the other day where the smoke was so heavy we had to shut it down,” Trahan said. “I told the guy who started it, if a wreck happens and someone dies, you could possibly go to jail.”
Trahan said much effort and resources go into battling these grass and brush fires. Such fires are handled in many cases by volunteer departments, with Abbeville having the only full-time department in the parish. With that, Trahan asked for those in the parish to help keep these types of fire calls from happening.
“We need your help,” Trahan said. “It is too dry to burn anything right now.”