ERIK SANZENBACH and DANIEL TYLER GOODEN / L’Observateur / November 1, 2000

GARYVILLE – A stubborn marsh fire on the north side of Airline Highway that has been a headache for St. James Parish authorities and residents sincelast week has spread over the parish line and is now smoldering slowly in the swamps of St. John the Baptist Parish.For a two weeks St. James firefighters have been trying to extinguish a firein the swamps that has produced very little flame but an incredible amount of dense choking smoke.

The smoke forced St. James and St. John parish law enforcement authoritiesto shut down Airline Highway and Louisiana Highway 44 between Gramercy and Reserve every morning since Thursday because the smoke mixed with the morning fog has produced some hazardous driving conditions.

Vehicles driving over the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge Monday hit a wall of smog. Some people slowed down faster than others, and in a matter ofminutes 12 cars were in five accidents, some cars in tow as they were hit from behind. There was one moderate to severe injury and five minorinjuries. State police immediately contacted the St. John and St. Jamesparish sheriffs to have the bridge closed, and for more than four hours state police worked to clear up the accident.

Each ambulance, wrecker or other vehicle had to be personally escorted over the bridge by a trooper on foot to tell them when to stop. The smog causedvisibility of about 6 inches off the windshield, said state police.

The bridge was reopened about 10:15 a.m.In addition, the St. James Parish School Board had ordered schools on theeast bank not to open until 11 a.m. so school buses could safely pick upstudents.

St. John Director of Public Safety Bertram Madere said smoke was so thickMonday morning that while he was driving to the fire site he had to “lean out the window so I could see the white line on the highway.”Both parishes had set up a command post on the St. James side of the fireon Monday morning. A small army of fire engines, four-wheel dune buggies,police cars, firefighters, police and politicians have collected on the south side of Airline Highway as they attempt to control the marsh fire.

Along with Madere, St. James Parish President Dale Hymel Jr., St. JamesSheriff Willy Martin and state Rep. Bobby Faucheux were huddled togethertrying to come up with a plan to fight the blaze, which has burned at least 1,500 acres of swamp and brush in the last two weeks.

One of the reasons the fire is so hard to put out is that it is burning under ground. The other reason is the recent drought that has dried up theswamps between Airline Highway and Interstate 10.

“The fire is feeding on the peat moss underground,” said Madere, “and it is getting just enough oxygen to smolder and smoke.”Because of the cool morning temperatures the smoke is staying low to the ground, mixing with the fog and making visibility almost impossible for commuters trying to get to work.

Riding into the swamp, Garyville Volunteer Firefighter and St. John Parishdeputy Steve Hefler stopped his four-wheel swamp buggy next to the roots of a large tree that had been overturned by bulldozers. He pointed to themass of moss and tiny roots that look like steel wool.

“That’s what’s feeding the fire,” said Hefler. “And right now this place isdry, dry, dry.”Hefler slowly maneuvered the buggy through the rough trail left by the bulldozers. Finally, he got to a rise of mud and dead trees. A pall of smokerose from behind the berm, where the fire is the worst. However, all theevidence of the fire was a slow seepage of smoke from the ground.

Firefighters are hoping the berm and the break in the swamp made by the bulldozers will slow the blaze down enough for them to get it under control.

Madere said he is convinced the fire will eventually burn itself out, but because of the safety issue, both St. James and St. John parishes areworking extra hard to extinguish the underground blaze. Madere andcompany have come up with a three-pronged attack.

The fire is heading in a south-easterly direction toward Airline Highway, and as such will run up against the road as a fire break.

But before the fire advances any further, parish officials want to stop it cold.

First the National Guard and the parishes have sent in bulldozers to build up a berm, or levee, around the fire. They hope this will slow down the smolderingpeat. The berm will extend almost seven miles around the blaze.Secondly, Kaiser Aluminum is pumping thousands of gallons of Mississippi River water into the swamp in order to saturate the dry ground and put out the fire at the source – under ground.

Madere joked, “I work for a government that is always trying to drain water away, and here we are pumping water into the land.”The lake waters of Maurepas and Ponchartrain are closer, but the water is salty and would kill off all the vegetation in the swamp.

Once the berm is built, the firefighters will reroute the water to the north and west of the fire, hoping to contain it in one small area.

Finally, the National Guard and the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness was scheduled to bring in three helicopters equipped with huge buckets designed for fighting forest fires. The helicopters were to dumpwater on the area and put out what is left of the blaze.

The helicopters will use St. John Parish Airport as their base of operations.According to Madere, the buckets and helicopters were taking some time to getting to the parish. The buckets had to be flown in from North Carolina andthen the mechanisms that dump the water have to be upgraded to work with the National Guard helicopters. Monday morning, Madere was hoping to havethe choppers in the air by late afternoon.

Despite that, parish officials are telling residents to expect more smoke and low visibility for the next couple of days. Residents should expect more roadclosures and traffic delays.

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