UPDATE: 2 Louisiana Agencies Offer A Large Reward to Solve Fires
UPDATE:
Louisiana Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain says they arrested Pitkin woman Laura McLaughlin for setting the Highway 113 fire which started in Rapides Parish and spread into Vernon Parish.
Investigators are still checking into all leads concerning the different fire cases.
ORIGINAL: (September 22, 2023)
The Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Mike Strain, has announced that two agencies have teamed up to try to discover the people responsible for three fires.
On their website, Strain says they are asking people who know anything about the following fires to call them:
- Tiger Island Fire
- Highway 113 Fire
- Lions Camp Road Fire
It's a huge amount of cash for information that generates leads and ultimately arrests in connection with these fires. The amount is up to $15,000.
Officials at the Louisiana Forestry Association and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry say you can remain anonymous. They don't need your information, they want to know who is responsible for these fires that have caused so much heartache and devastation.
The following are the numbers to call if you have information that can help law enforcement arrest the people involved:
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry can be contacted twenty-four hours a day on their hotline at 855-452-5323.
The Louisiana Forestry Association can be contacted by calling 318-443-2558.
Officials hope that someone will be willing to give them information to find the people who are responsible for so much destruction across the state of Louisiana. The following are pictures of the fires:
One of the biggest points that Ag Secretary Strain wants to emphasize is that these are really situations, and the Burn Ban remains in effect.
There should be no outdoor burning as this can set off a wildfire. He adds that they are seriously looking into all cases when someone is violating the burn band, and they will be given a violation. You can read more about the burn ban here.