Fire And Smoke Near New Orleans

The Louisiana National Guard is going to be dropping 500 gallons of water on fires that are in east New Orleans. Fire trucks have no way to get to the area, so helicopters seem to be the only option.

The smoke from these fires have blanketed surrounding parishes. Prevailing winds are blowing the smoke across Lake Ponchartrain to the Baton Rouge area and is affecting large areas north and west of New Orleans.

Health officials are warning people in that area to try to avoid breathing the smoke. As a matter of fact, the Department of Environmental Quality to issue an air quality alert for a large portion of southeast  Louisiana.