Louisiana suffered a record-breaking number of 441 fires between August 1 to August 24, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) reported.
The Tiger Island Fire in Louisiana was the largest in the state’s history, burning over 33,000 acres.
“This is unprecedented. We’ve never had to fight this many fires simultaneously and at this duration. We’re fighting between 25 and 30 [wildfires] today,” said Mike Strain, the commissioner for Louisiana’s Department of Agriculture and Forestry. “It’s burning very intensely. It’s moving pretty fast, and you can feel the air picking up. That’s from the heat of the fire sucking air into the fire,” he added.
According to the LDAF’s Enforcement Division, State Fire Marshal deputies, and the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives, the Tiger Island Fire, Louisiana’s largest-ever wildfire, was caused by arson, not climate change.
