BATON ROUGE - During Louisiana's third week under a burn ban issued by the
State Fire Marshal, state leaders say the demands are falling on deaf
ears.

In a press conference on Saturday, Governor Edwards urged the public to
comply with the state order.

"Nobody should be burning anything, for any reason, outside," Edwards
said.

David Hughes with the St. George Fire Department is investigating a local
business, Halo Debris Recovery, for openly burning during the ban.

"Two days ago I came out here on an active burning investigation at this
location," Hughes said.

He says the business owner violated terms of his burn permit along with
ignoring the burn ban.

"He's supposed to have a burn pit, and he's supposed to have a blower and
a smoke screen to limit the smoke coming from the burn," he said.

Fires all over the state have erupted and they can start by something as
small as a trash fire, floating ember or a cigarette butt.

A massive fire in Amite started Thursday with a trash fire that got out of
control. Officials say that fire burned more than 250 acres of land,
scaring people who lived nearby.

"Well I lost it, you know. There's nothing I could do. I was putting stuff
in the safe. You know packed a bag, getting ready to leave," a resident
said.

Ryan Miller was arrested Friday for starting the fire in Amite, and
officials hope everyone will follow the demands going forward not to burn
anything.

https://www.wbrz.com/news/louisiana-burn-ban-falls-on-deaf-ears/