Louisiana Wildfires Ravage 60,000 Acres

By Cecilee Oliver

Louisiana Farm Bureau

Roughly 60,000 acres have been burned by wildfires across Louisiana according to state officials, amid an unprecedented drought.

Sabine Parish has been one of the areas affected by numerous fires. Waylon Salters had good pasture conditions on his ranch near Florien, before fires nearly burned his barn and his house down.

“Probably 30 or 40 percent of the pasture was still kind of green and palatable to the cattle,” Salters said. “The rest of it turned kind of golden brown, but most of the good grazing, it actually got burned in the fire.”

After seeing the damage the fire did to his pastures, Salters said he was nervous to return home.

“It was already a bad year,” he said. “I didn't put up very much hay.  I was able to procure some hay from Farmerville.”

When Salters returned home, he found the flames had come within 50 feet of his hay barn. He said that if his barn would’ve been burned, it would’ve ended his cattle operation.

“My main focus was getting the cattle out, of course,” Salters said. “And it turned out to really not be that big of an issue, because once the fire got out here in the open, the fire department and the Forest Service, got ahead of it really quick.”

Those within the agriculture sector are used to dealing with effects of natural diesters and having to change their plans within minutes. Many just like Salters must be ready to adapt to whatever is thrown their way.

“Whenever you’ve been around an operation for a pretty good time, you kind of get used to rolling with those punches,” Salters said “Some things are too difficult, but it's always something you kind of just get used to navigating.”

Although the fire has been extinguished, the dry conditions remain. Salters said he worries about smoldering embers re-igniting. While recent rains have helped suppress fires in southern Louisiana, the drought is still in effect and so the threat of fire remains.