Tiger Island Fire: Wildfires are burning across Louisiana

Record-breaking heat, flash droughts and a high-pressure heat dome have together helped to create an “unprecedented” series of wildfires in Louisiana.

Record-breaking heat, flash droughts and a high-pressure heat dome stretching across the South have helped create an “unprecedented” series of wildfires in Louisiana.

More than 31,000 acres have burned in the Tiger Island Fire, the largest wildfire in recorded state history, which remains only 50% contained.

All told, more than 511 wildfires have burned in Louisiana in August, Dr. Mike Strain, the state agriculture and forestry commissioner, said in an interview Tuesday.

“This is a firestorm,” said Strain, a veterinarian who has helped lead the state’s response. “When you think about looking out and seeing a wall of fire 8 miles long, that’s what you’re fighting.”

Typically one of the wettest states in the country, Louisiana has been uncharacteristically dry this year. Authorities don’t believe the largest of the fires will end until there is a heavy rainfall, which isn’t expected for some time.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/louisiana-fire-tiger-island-rcna102362

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