Fire Officials Keeping Vigil In Bayou La Batre

Alabama Mobile A controlled burn gets out of hand forcing evacuations.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Tue, June 23, 2009 - 11:07 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, June 23, 2009 - 11:21 pm CST

Bayou La Batre Fire Officials said an Alabama Forestry Commission team is staying through the night in the city to make sure a controlled burn doesn't re-ignite.
The burn took a turn for the worse Tuesday evening, forcing people in some parts of Bayou La Batre to be evacuated from their homes.
People in the Downey Street and Little River Road area had to be evacuated as winds quickly changed the fire's path.
Authorities asked 400 to 500 people to evacuate homes and apartment complexes, like the Bayou Village apartment complex.
Some of the evacuees wondered why a controlled burn was done on a day with high temperatures and dry weather.
Cathy Newman of Bayou La Batre said, "They shouldn't have burned today to start with because it (the wind) is really blowing too hard and it is so dry."
Jean Terlouw said, "I just threw some things in the car and took off."
Bayou La Batre Fire Chief John Wiggins said the spreading fire wasn't the fault of the Alabama Forestry Commission.
Wiggins said, "The wind picked up and shifted, is the way I understand it, and the agency that was in charge kind of let it get away from them."
Fire officials identify the agency hired by state forestry officials as Cahaba Forestry Services.
Still, Wiggins said he did alert state officials about possible problems.
Wiggins said, "I did talk with them about the conditions today (Tuesday). The wind was mentioned. The wind in the bayou changes very suddenly."
The Bayou La Batre Community Shelter opened as a shelter earlier in the evening.
Elizabeth Saunders with the American Red Cross said, "We've got eight people in here right now. We had eleven, but three of them left."
Residents started returning home about 8:30 and the shelter closed at 9pm.
No one was hurt.
Bayou La Batre officials said forestry officials are using backhoes to help contain the fire and hope the blaze will burn itself out.

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Monkeys Uncle Says:

Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 12:33 pm

The current ban allows forestry burns. I remember a burn got out of control in that same area in the not too distant past. Whoever did that last burn did not realize that when it does not rain that things burn really well. Maybe these folks need re-training in doing “controlled” burns.

mob1 Says:

Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 10:43 am

Actually with Burn Permits I think they are good for 60days I can not be 100% on that. If this is true then they could have planned this over a month ago when the weather and heat was not as bad and they could be coming up the expiration of the permit. Granted the timing to do the burn was not good.

sydric Says:

Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 10:08 am

How many acres, what was damaged, and why when we are under a forrestry burn ban til oct., were they burning anyway. We have had two weeks of above normal temps, with winds that have been wnw and variable. If they are not issuing permits what makes them think that they can burn. Nothing is controlled with this type of weather.

mob1 Says:

Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 6:37 am

OK, so how big was the fire. How many acre’s?