VIDALIA — Even though parish residents have been hard at work waterproofing their houses in the past month, the area inside the levees has remained dry.

Due to the dry land, Concordia Parish is currently under a burn ban until further notice.

Concordia Parish Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said the burn ban is statewide.

“While it is in effect all over the state, they left it up to the local governments,” he said. “And we agreed that we needed to issue one.”

Ferrington said the lack of rain and the rising temperatures throughout the parish led to the ban.

“Everything around here is just dry,” he said. “We had to issue the ban.”

The ban will last until the parish gets a heavy rainfall, Ferrington said.

“It is going to take quite a few inches of rain to take of the ban,” he said.

During the ban, Ferrington said burning trash, limbs or leaves in your yard is not permitted.

Ferrington said anyone caught burning anything will be penalized.

“It is very dangerous to burn things, especially with it being as dry as it is,” he said. “So there will be strict penalties if you do not follow the rules.”

Ferrington said the ban will not affect farmers who have to burn their crops as part of their yearly harvest.

“Farmers working with controlled burning have the right, other than that no one should be burning anything,” he said.

Ferrington said the parish’s fire departments have all been made aware of the ban, and residents need to remember that this is a serious issue.

“The parish is very dry, and things can be very dangerous if you aren’t careful,” he said. “Do not burn anything.”