At least eleven Louisiana parishes had declared outdoor burn bans by Friday afternoon, because of increasingly dangerous dry conditions. State Climatologist Jay Grymes says for more than a third of the state the fire danger is rated as high. But he emphasized that there is some relief in sight, as a cold front will boost rain chances over the weekend.
As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, Grymes elaborated on the wet start on Saturday, “Bringing rain to most of the state from Saturday midday into Sunday morning. Now, the real question is, how much rain?”
Grymes says much of the northern half of the state could see one inch or more, while southern parishes could get a half inch of rain or less. “Many of those places may only see about a quarter of an inch of rain. That’s really not going to do much in terms of trying to take a bite out of the drought.” But Grymes then concludes that after the weekend rainfall, the state will revert back to a dry pattern next week.
But to put these conditions into some historical context, this does not, fortunately, match the horrid wildfire season of two years ago. According to state officials, Louisiana's 2023 summer wildfire season became the worst in a century.
In late August of 2023, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency statewide. During this time, the governor’s office released public information messages (see above) with advice on how to avoid starting unwanted fires. That month alone, drought, extreme heat and wind conditions resulted in 357 wildfires, which destroyed thousands of acres of land and property. From August to October 2023 more than 60,000 acres burned across Louisiana, causing an estimated $71 million in damage to the state's timber industry alone.
By contrast, Louisiana's 2025 wildfire season has thus far produced just two wildfires of more than 1,000 acres. The Backbone wildfire 15 miles from Natchitoches in Natchitoches Parish. It started August 3, 2025 and was contained about three weeks later on August 25, after burning 2,409 acres. The Marceaux wildfire, 4 miles north of Johnson Bayou in Cameron Parish, was also contained August 25, after burning 1,456 acres in 8 days.
While their total damage comes to just under 4,000 acres, it is important to note that 2023's largest wildfire, the Tiger Island fire, would torch 50,000 acres, or more than 83% of the total. So, authorities remind the public that all it takes is one fire to change an entire season, especially in the case of arson, which investigators later concluded was the cause of Tiger Island.
