Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS -- It has been a busy day for firefighters and National Guard helicopters now working from sunup to sundown to put out the stubborn fire on the edge of Bayou Sauvage.
Nine National Guard helicopters spent the day dropping massive buckets of water on the two fires burning in a swampy wooded area in New Orleans East.
Since the aerial assault started yesterday afternoon, the choppers have dropped about 500,000 gallons on the flames.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who toured the burn zone today, said it appears the water drops have brought the smaller, 26-acre fire closer to Bayou Sauvage under control.
“It appears from our flyover today that they have been completely successful in extinguishing that fire,” he said.
The helicopters and firefighters are now turning their attention to the larger, 2300-acre fire, closer to the Oak Island subdivision. Fire officials say it appears 65 percent of the land there has already burned.
New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Charles Parent said the best they can hope for now is to suppress the smoke and flames.
“We know we’re not going to put out the fire with the limited amount of air support,” Parent said. “You have to get in there with heavy equipment to really put this out.”
Landrieu said the state is picking up the $7000 an hour price tag for the use of the National Guard helicopters.
“I’m very thankful to the governor for stepping in and leaning forward on this particular issue,” Landrieu said.
Even with the local, state and federal assets now fighting this fire, fire commanders say it will still take a couple of days of heavy rains to put out the flames.
“We’re trying to limit the fuel source, put the back side out, suppress some of the smoke and be this weekend for heavy rains,” Parent said.
This fire has now been burning for about a week, and it appears the heavy smoke is once again heading out over Lake Pontchartrain and dissipating.
