Baton Rouge LA- State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning and Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain will rescind the “Cease and Desist on Outdoor Burning” order that was issued on June 1, 2011. Effective Thursday July 21, 2011 at 08:00am the statewide ban on burning will be lifted, subject to any parish or municipal regulations. The statewide burn ban was issued in response to extreme dry conditions within the state and a high wildland fire danger. When the ban to cease burning went into effect, Louisiana was experiencing an average of 300 fires and nearly 4000 acres lost per month due to the dry conditions. Following the order, the fire incidents dropped to 150 fires and 900 acres burned monthly. The ban was extremely effective in preventing wildland fires. Although this ban will be lifted, the public is encouraged to use caution while burning as dry conditions still exist and many local governments may decide to continue “Burn Bans” in their communities. Commissioner Mike Strain stated, "We would like to thank everyone for supporting the Burn Ban declaration during the extreme drought that has gripped our state the past 2 months. Everyone's cooperation has lead to a decrease in wildfire occurrence throughout the state, thereby helping to protect our citizens and natural resources from the destructive nature of wildfires. We understand that the ban may have been an inconvenience to some, but our goals and responsibilities are to protect and serve all of the citizens of the state, and for this we are proud.” Marshal Browning thanks the public for their support, “These extremely dangerous conditions placed the public and Firefighters in harm’s way. I believe this proactive step to ban burning saved lives and people’s property, we will be closely monitoring conditions in the case future bans might be needed.” ###

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