BATON ROUGE — The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for the entire Capital region on Monday

Going into effect at 1 p.m. and lasting until 7 p.m. on Monday, the warning emphasizes how the combination of very dry air and gusty winds could lead to rapid wildfire spread should one ignite.

Officials ask that residents refrain from burning while these conditions are present, as any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly.

Affected parishes include East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Assumption, Iberville, East Feliciana, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. James, St. Mary, Tangipahoa, and West Feliciana Parishes, as well as Amite and Wilkinson Counties.

Storm Station Meteorologist Malcom Byron says that the reasons for the warning are gusty winds following a cold front coming to the area and low humidity.

"Whenever you have really dry conditions, that would be low relative humidities and breezy conditions, with low relative humidities, the air is so dry that it has a tendency to suck up the moisture out of dry vegetation a little bit faster. That promotes better fire fuels,” Byron said.

If fires were to ignite, then the gusty winds would help the fire spread easier.

"If you take a tissue paper and you drop it outside and it blows two feet, if that would have been a fire. It would've been four feet. So just keep that in mind. If you got something that's going to deliver ash, it can land on top of a dead pine tree or it can go a mile and catch something else on fire,” Husser Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dale Vernon said.

Byron says despite recent heavy rains, the soil is dry.

"While Baton Rouge is not technically under a drought, areas just north of the Metro area and south of the metro area, even despite all the added rain recently, they're still under a drought,” Byron said.

Fire officials recommend against burning Monday and say even something as small as flicking a cigarette can be problematic.

"Avoid burning anything outdoors. Anything that can create sparks in dry vegetation, you want to avoid that. A small spark can get away from somebody really quickly before they're able to control it,” Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesperson Billy Zachary said.