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Baton Rouge, La.  – Investigators with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Forestry Enforcement Division arrested 32-year-old Michael Shawn Setliff of Flatwoods, Louisiana, on three counts of simple arson for fires set in Grant Parish. 

Pursuant to LAC 7: XXI.1719(A), farm-raised white-tailed deer may be harvested by killing from October 1 thought January 31.  LAC 7:XXI.1719(C) authorizes the Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry to establish, by written order, variances of these dates as the commissioner deems necessary to carry out the purposes of R.S. 3:3101-3108. 

No, our firefighters are not out with mops and buckets, but the concept is the same. Mop-up is a wildland fire term that means "extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines, felling snags, and trenching logs to prevent rolling after an area has burned, to make a fire safe, or to reduce residual smoke."

Baton Rouge, La. – The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF) Livestock Brand Commission will host its next saddle microchipping event Friday, September 22 from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M.  It will be held at the Rustic Sky Horse Camp, located at 30 Squyres Lane in Melder, Louisiana.    

Our operations staff and fire behavior analysts have been mentioning the Keetch-Byram Drought index, or KBDI for short, in several of our videos. You may know that it measures drought, but what does it actually mean?

Firelines are constructed around a fire to "contain" the fire and serve as the point where fire crews will do all they can to stop the progress of the fire. Firelines are "containment" lines.

Baton Rouge, La.  – Multiple wildfires have burned in Beauregard Parish in the past few weeks – most notably The Tiger Island Fire. Wildfire investigators with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF) Enforcement Division have determined this fire to be a result of arson. LDAF investigators, Louisiana State Fire Marshal deputies, and the Beauregard Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives are actively investigating this matter.

Another common question we've been asked is why our goal is containment instead of extinguishing or the fire being out. To be clear, we would love for the fire to be totally out! But, there is a process to getting to that point, and fires must be first contained, then controlled before being declared "out."

When pine trees and other evergreens are damaged by the smoke and heat during a wildfire, but not actually consumed by the fire, after a period of time the dead needles will start falling out of the trees. This is generally referred to as “needlecast.” for wildland firefighters, it includes any dead, dry leaves falling from trees and brush in the fire area.

The Tiger Island Fire is over 30,000 acres. That means the fire perimeter encompasses that acreage. It does not mean the acreage is all currently burning. In fact, most of the acres are "black."