A wildfire near Exit 30 off Interstate 530 blocked traffic Wednesday afternoon amid a burn ban in Jefferson County.
The fire, one of several that erupted in Arkansas, was reported at about 2:30 p.m. with smoke skipping the road and heading eastward toward a church.
Arkansas State Police has asked motorists to avoid the interstate from exits 12 to 32. Arkansas 104, which runs under I-530 at Exit 30, is also shut down.
“All traffic to and from Little Rock should go through Grant County using highways 270 and 167,” state police said in a news alert.
Several volunteer fire departments have responded to the scene. Karen Blevins, director of the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management, added the cause of the fires was not immediately known.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
State Police have asked motorists to also avoid U.S. 67 at the 69-mile marker in Jackson County and U.S. 67 near the 124-mile marker near the Fulbright community and U.S. 63/412 in Portia, both in Lawrence County.
Winds of up to 40 miles per hour led to the issuance of a burn ban in Jefferson County on Wednesday. Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson announced the ban shortly after 9:30 a.m. through Court Order No. 2025-14, citing “current weather conditions.”
The Pine Bluff area experienced sustained winds between 23 and 40 mph, according to National Weather Service forecaster Justin Condry, while much of Arkansas saw temperatures in the 70s.
“Sustained means it’s not intermittent,” Condry said. “It happens consistently. It’s nonstop blowing at that rate. Gusting means it’s blowing one second and it goes away.”
No other dangers than the risk of fire were posed due to the strong winds, less than a week before tornadoes wreaked havoc in Independence County, claiming three lives.
Shortly after 2 p.m. a tree blocked North Birch Street in the Townsend Park area of Pine Bluff, sending a live wire down that caused a small grass fire on the west side of the street. A Pine Bluff fire unit began to contain the small fire at about 2:40 p.m.
Low humidity values no greater than 20% made conditions riper for a fire in the Pine Bluff area. Condry said the low values are a result of not much moisture in the air.
A dry line, according to Condry, traveled through the Central and Southern Plains on Wednesday, creating warm, sunny weather for much of Arkansas while much of the country north and west of the line faced a cold front and plummeting temperatures in the 30s and 40s. The temperature in Pine Bluff was 79 degrees as of 3:33 p.m., while International Falls, Minn., was at 32 degrees with a spring blizzard heading east.
“We had a dry line come through earlier. That’s where we had clouds and dust kicked up from west Texas, and it’s pushed toward Tennessee,” Condry said. “There’s a cold front compounded behind it. It’ll go through northern locations.”
Pine Bluff firefighters extinguish a small grass fire resulting from a downed power line after strong winds caused a tree to fall, blocking North Birch Street in Pine Bluff on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
A tree blocks North Birch Street at Townsend Park after falling due to strong winds in Pine Bluff on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Smoke from a downed power line caused by the fallen tree emerges in the background. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Interstate 530 northbound traffic snarls as the road is blocked due to fire in the area of Arkansas 104 on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Byron Tate)