The sight and smell of smoke wafting through the Buckhead, Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs area is not being caused by any local fires, but rather from drifting smoke originating from forest fires in north Georgia caused from drought conditions.
Residents were greeted this morning on their commutes with a smoky haze, but Sandy Springs spokesperson Sharon Kraun reassured those in the city the fire is not located in the city.
“There is no fire in the city,” Kraun said. “With the dry conditions and assistance from a little added wind, the smoke you are seeing and smelling is originating elsewhere and floating into the city. One primary source is a forest fire in Fannin / Gilmer Counties. More than 6,400 acres have burned since mid-October,” she said.
Smoke is heavy throughout metro Atlanta due to forest fires in northern Georgia.
The Georgia Department of Public Health has issued a health warning to those with chronic lung and heart disease to be careful due to the heavy smoke.
Shifting winds are pushing smoke from several fires burning in North Georgia and parts of Tennessee into the state, including the metro Atlanta area. The Georgia Department of Public Health is urging people, especially individuals with chronic heart and lung diseases, to protect themselves from smoke from wildfires, the department states in a press release.
For more information about smoke and health go to www.cdc.gov/features/wildfires/.