ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — St. Tammany Parish collected a mountain of debris in the days following the series of tornados that ripped through the Slidell area on April 10.
Next week, public works crews are expected to begin burning the 15,000 cubic yards of fallen trees, branches, and other green vegetation.
“We got to work pretty quickly and just made sure all the debris was picked up and obviously it piled up and now we’ve got to dispose of it,” St. Tammany spokesman Michael Vinsanau said.
Beginning Wednesday morning, public works crews are expected to begin burning the debris. Friday, an excavator was in the process of digging a 10 by 30 feet, 30 feet deep burn pit. The parish plans to use an air curtain to help reduce the amount of smoke. St. Tammany District One Fire Chief Chris Kaufmann explains how it works.
“It actually has a blower, and it actually blows the flames, and it produces very little smoke and very little ash from the vegetation.”
Chief Kaufmann says the debris will be burned in the safest way possible.
“We have a controlled burn. It’s basically a DEQ-approved site. Everything is being done and regulated. We’ll be on standby if anything goes wrong.”
There are few, if any homes near the burn site located on the Dr. T.J. Smith Expressway.
“Residents may see smoke in the area,” Vinsanau said. “They may see ash in the area. We’re going to work with our fire department and emergency leaders just to make sure that everyone is kept safe.”
“We don’t think it’s going to cause a lot of chaos because we’re doing it in the most efficient way,” Kaufmann said.
It could take about a week to burn the entire debris pile, the fire chief added.
According to St. Tammany Parish, crews will be burning the debris between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., beginning on Wednesday.
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