Corps sending pumps to help fight stubborn underground fire in New Orleans East
By Isabella Wilson
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The Army Corps of Engineers has dispatched reinforcements to help combat a stubborn, persistent underground in New Orleans East.
The fire, which has led to breathing difficulties and traffic disruptions across the metro area, poses significant challenges for firefighters.
Five pumps from the Corps arrived Monday (Nov. 6) morning to supplement two Sewerage & Water Board pumps that have been working for weeks to extinguish numerous hot spots in the East along Industrial Parkway.
Extinguishing the fires has proven to be a monumental task. The vast area, combined with bone-dry conditions, presents substantial obstacles.
The fires seem to be emanating from beneath the surface, spanning over 200 acres, and have proven resistant to efforts to control them. So far, the pumps have barely put a dent in the fires, which officials believed were set by illegal hunters trying to flush out game.
The new pumps are capable of delivering 12,000 gallons of water per minute to douse the smoldering landscape.
For now, it appears that helicopters or airplanes carrying large water buckets are not an option.
“If you look at the volume of water that’s going on there - 5×12,500 gallons per minute - whereas a helicopter has 300 gallons per drop,” said Mike Strain, the head of the La. Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry.
The pumps are connected to pipes drawing water from nearby canals to saturate the dry, scorching ground, which smolders as far as the eye can see.
“When you look behind me, it looks like a volcano or a moonscape it’s been burning underground. You can see flame-ups,” said former state representative, and hunting leaseholder Austin Badon.
An underground gas pipeline, stretching for hundreds of yards through the hunting lease, is cause for concern.
Strain says the LDAF has sent several bulldozers to clear safety buffers around the gas line, but the fire breached this buffer overnight.
“We need a lot of rain, this area needs to be saturated. We need water standing on top of this charge ground here,” said Badon.
Those working to fight the fire are hopeful that the new pumps are effective, but say more help is needed.
“I’d like to see airplanes with fire retardant stuff come out and start dropping here,” said Badon.
For now, the LDAF says the pumps are the best option.
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