Do You Know Why Bossier Smelled Like a Camp-Fire This Morning?

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When I woke up this morning, it was pretty smoky.  It had that familiar odor of waking up in the woods and smelling the remnants of last nights campfire, but way stronger.  Honestly, it worried me - so I did a little digging to find out what happened.

The Smoke Covering Bossier City and Haughton Came From a Fire at Barksdale AFB

According to a report from Bossier Now, the thick cloud of smoke blanketing Bossier City and most of Haughton this morning came from a fire at Barksdale Air Force Base.  Before you freak out because you and I both know there are things on that base that don't react well to fire -  just know that this was an intentional fire set by Air Force officials.

The Fires at Bossier City's Barksdale AFB Made So Much Smoke, Haughton FD Had to Make a Statement

Reportedly, Barksdale AFB authorities are conducting a series of controlled burns on base property near the town of Haughton.  There was so much smoke from the fire this morning that the Haughton Fire Department issued this statement earlier today:

Barksdale Air Force Base is currently conducting controlled burns on the base adjacent to the Town of Haughton. We have reached out to leadership on base due to the concern citizens have expressed about the smoke in our area.

These controlled burns are conducted regularly and we are not always notified in advance. Base emergency management personnel have now told us that these burns will continue through the rest of this week.

Please understand we have no jurisdictional authority regulating or scheduling these events and that these burns have always been conducted in a safe manner and have never required our response.