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State Fire Marshal Chief H. “Butch” Browning is announcing the agency’s 2021 performance outcomes which show continued strides toward improved services to and protection for the people of Louisiana.
“It was another challenging year still operating within the limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic and facing several weather-related disasters, including another devastating hurricane,” said Browning, “But, once again, this agency found a way to shine through some dark times and I cannot say enough how proud I am of every employee who contributed to that resilience.”
Signs of a bounce-back in economic development were seen in the number of plan review submittals for new commercial construction and/or significant renovation projects. In 2021, there were more than 17,500 submittals compared to 15,600 in 2020.
The estimated total value of projects submitted in 2021 reached more than $9.9 billion. And despite reduced staffing, the agency’s plan review team addressed 70% of submittals within five days of their entry in our Information Management System (IMS.)
Enforcement deputies conducted around 27,000 final inspections of new commercial buildings opening across the state as well as compliance inspections of existing commercial buildings.
In addition, deputies inspected hundreds of fireworks stands and displays and responded to thousands of impairment reports on life safety and property protection systems in commercial businesses. On top of those regular duties, deputies conducted more than 7,800 COVID-19 compliance visits and complaint responses in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Health and the state’s Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control.
SFM deputies were requested to investigate more than 670 fire incidents. Of those fires, fewer than 250 were classified as incendiary which is lower than the prior three years’ figures that hovered around 300.
The agency’s arrest rate is around 34% which exceeds the national average (21% in 2020).
Encouragingly, but still unfortunate to report, there were almost 20 fewer lives lost to residential fires, 59, than the previous year which saw 77 fire-related deaths.
Only about 10 of those cases involved structures with working smoke alarms at the time of the fires.
In addition, the SFM licensed almost 5,900 individuals and just over 1,000 firms in 2021, bringing in around $1.3 million in revenue. Those licenses apply to a host of industries including life safety and property protection businesses, amusement ride operators, conveyance devices, firework permits and boiler systems.
The agency’s Emergency Services division, with the Louisiana Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Task Force at the center, responded to yet another major storm with the largest USAR pre-response in known U.S. USAR response history with more than 900 personnel staged in Louisiana hours before landfall.
The response personnel grew to more than 1,300 at its height with teams from 20 states. These teams rescued and/or evacuated more than 2,600 residents from the more than 44,000 structures searched. More than 800 firefighters from across Louisiana and about a dozen other states helped affected fire departments answer more than 5,000 emergency calls post-storm with manpower, trucks and equipment.
Lastly, the State Fire Marshal’s Office continued to grow the efforts of its fire prevention and safety program by issuing generator safety and carbon monoxide (CO) hazard information via traditional media, social media and 1,700 yard signs before, during and after Hurricane Ida that led to increased awareness about CO dangers in the wake of the storm.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has taken its place in the top level of the nation’s research institutions and is planning a celebration to mark this historic achievement.
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning has designated UL Lafayette as R1, or a university with “very high research activity.”
Just 3% of public and private universities in the United States have achieved this status, Dr. Joseph Savoie, UL Lafayette president, noted in a congratulatory message to the campus community on Monday.
“Like us, each are leaders in teaching and learning, innovation and research, scholarship and service. I’m very proud, and you should be, too,” Savoie said.
The Center for Postdoctoral Research at Indiana University produces the Carnegie Classification. It has been the leading framework for describing U.S. colleges and universities for nearly a half century.
The latest update includes 3,900 institutions. Only 137 are in Carnegie’s highest level.
UL Lafayette is among them.
“Reaching R1 enhances the University’s prestige and that of our region,” Savoie said, adding that the designation “helps us attract and retain high-quality students who seek an institution of academic and research excellence as they choose where to go to college.”
He continued: “It makes our current faculty members more competitive. Potential faculty, external funding agencies and policymakers also look for this mark of quality when making determinations. And the designation adds value to the degrees pursued by current students and earned by alumni.”
The University’s top-level designation is also a selling point for investors and “is a boon for workforce creation and economic development. It’s attractive for businesses that need an established, trusted source of intellectual capital that an R1 University like ours provides,” Savoie said.
Carnegie uses a set of weighted values to determine whether a university has achieved R1 status. These include research and development expenditures, how many doctoral degrees it awards each year, and the number and quality of research staff.
Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, vice president for Research, Innovation and Economic Development, noted that, over the past decade, UL Lafayette consistently has excelled at each measure.
For example, the University’s research and development expenditures in 2020 were a record $164 million, a 165% increase in seven years. The number of doctoral degrees awarded grew by nearly 18% during the same period.
“This growth is not accidental,” Kolluru said. “Rather, it reflects the foresight and intentionality embodied by the deans and faculty of our academic colleges, the Graduate School, and by our University leadership, all of whom have demonstrated a sustained commitment to excellence in research, and to the development of intellectual capacity and human capital to address the challenges we face as a global society.”
He continued: “Earning R1 is a statement: if you want to collaborate with faculty, staff and student researchers who pursue scholarly excellence and whose work is truly changing the world, look no further than UL Lafayette. If you want to work at a University that is world-class, look no further than UL Lafayette. If you want to go to school at a University where you get world-class education from world-class researchers, look no further than UL Lafayette.”
Kolluru pointed to the University’s role in the creation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. It was the world’s first widely available coronavirus vaccination and the first to win full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
“The road to this life-saving medical breakthrough ran through our New Iberia Research Center,” Kolluru said.
Computing, data science and artificial intelligence; energy transition and clean energy; coastal, water management and climate adaptation; advanced materials and manufacturing; and the development of socio-economic and human capital are among other areas where the “groundbreaking work being done by researchers at UL Lafayette is having a broad, global effect,” Kolluru added.
“The Carnegie R1 designation acknowledges the strength of what is already here and provides incredible momentum for our continued ability to confront – and overcome – the great questions of our time through scholarship, innovation and public impact research.”
Like Savoie and Kolluru, Dr. Jaimie Hebert, UL Lafayette’s provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, paid tribute to the University’s faculty, staff and students “who each contributed to making this prestigious designation possible.”
“This is so significant for the University, and this achievement is a testament to them and their work,” Hebert said.
“UL Lafayette has always provided access to an exceptional educational experience, and this top-tier status elevates what we can offer students at every level. Our researchers are leaders in their respective disciplines, and as the R1 designation attracts more national and global attention to the incredible work that they are doing, our students will be learning from and working alongside them.”
“We’re really at an incredible moment in our history,” Hebert said.
UL Lafayette will mark reaching R1 status at a celebration on Wednesday, Feb. 23, followed by a forum showcasing cutting-edge research the University produces.
Details on these events will be released when they are available

M&S Frugé Farms, a second-generation rice farm in Eunice, engineered and is distributing a new, healthier type of white rice, called Parish Rice.
The GMO-free rice has a glycemic index score of 41 out of 100, according to the company and the LSU Agriculture Center. That is the lowest score of any white rice on the market.
The rice also has 53% more protein than most white rice varieties.
“I wanted to produce the highest quality rice possible, and I think we’ve done that,” said Frugé, owner of Parish Rice, in a news release.
“There are so many people whose health could benefit by switching to Parish Rice, and I’m ready to share it with as many folks as I can.”
The low glycemic index score means the rice does not raise a person’s blood sugar as much as other rice brands.
Frugé called Parish Rice a “gamechanger for anyone with diabetes” in a video produced by the LSU AgCenter.
The rice is available at parishrice.com.

The National Association of University Women - Crowley Branch will once again celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual youth musical.
Youths from a variety of area churches will come together to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King through song and dance.
The program will be held Sunday, Jan. 16, at Jerusalem Baptist Church, 927 W. Second St. in Crowley.
The event will begin at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
For more information contact Dr. Ezora J. Proctor at (337) 783-8094 or Myrtle Cain at (337) 501-9485.