Does Louisiana’s Burn Ban Ruin Your Labor Day Cookout in Lafayette?

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - Normally, Labor Day is a three-day weekend that we love to fill with cooking out and throwing a party. Because it's really the last celebration of summer here in Louisiana, we like to go all out with whatever we throw on the pit.

The problem? Excessive heat and drought conditions make lighting fires a bad idea.

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The state of Louisiana is under a burn ban right now, and even though the worst of the heat may be behind us, it's still extremely dry around here. It would be very risky to even light your grill right now.

However, it is also illegal under the current terms of the burn ban.

Originally, there were some exceptions to the burn ban. Private grilling was allowed, as were some other uses of fire.

Last week, however, the state rescinded its old burn ban and replaced it with a new one. There wasn't much difference between the two except for one thing - the new ban got rid of all exceptions that were written into the old one.

All parishes remain under the ban and the Red Flag Warning.

Due to the extremely dry conditions, a statewide burn ban was put into effect at the beginning of the month.

Where private burning, use of grill pits and small campfires were allowed under the previous ban, this type of burning is now prohibited.

The Louisiana governor has activated a State Emergency Operations Center due to the hundreds of wildfires impacting the state.

On top of that, Lafayette is currently under a state of emergency because of the excessive drought and heat. Officials are asking residents to conserve water and definitely adhere to the burn ban.

You may want to cook your burgers and hot dogs indoors for Labor Day this year. You can also try the reverse-sear method of cooking a steak, which is totally possible indoors (if you haven't tried it, you really should).

But, if you manage to get a chance to grill (like, if the burn ban is canceled), you may still have a shot to cook these extremely Cajun things on your grill or smoker this weekend.