State agriculture commissioner looking to boost Louisiana’s firefighting capability

November 29, 2023

P1074289jpg — Pine trees sport dead, brown needles and charred bark in a forest along Lonzie Doyle Road near the Westport community in Rapides Parish on Sept. 5, 2023. This forest burned in the Highway 113 Fire, which has consumed about 8,000 acres. (Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter)

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Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain plans to ask the Legislature for $43 million to beef up firefighting equipment and personnel after the state suffered its worst wildfire season in a century, wiping out 62,000 acres of mostly forestland, USA Today Network reports. Wildfires that escalated in August and raged through October destroyed $71

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