The right lane of I-20 westbound near the DeKalb-Rockdale County line was expected to be blocked much of the day Friday as firefighters continued to douse hot spots left over from Thursday afternoon's brush fires.
The heavy brush fires that caused parts of I-20 to be shut down for nearly three hours during metro Atlanta's afternoon rush hour likely were "intentionally set," DeKalb Battalion Chief Winford Smith told Channel 2 Action News.
Five fires started burning late Thursday afternoon along the DeKalb-Rockdale County line. The Georgia Department of Transportation shut down parts of I-20 in both directions around I-285, jamming traffic along roads that feed onto those major thoroughfares.
GDOT reopened I-20 eastbound around 7 p.m. and began to let traffic onto parts of I-20 westbound around 8 p.m. The westbound lanes were expected to be open late Thursday night, Channel 2 said.
The fires burned between Wesley Chapel Road and Sigman Road and began spreading toward Rockdale County.
Smith told Channel 2 he thinks the fires were intentionally set because they were all burning at the same time without any sort of natural cause, such as a thunderstorm.
"This is unusual for several fires ... I would assume somebody is setting the fires," he told Channel 2.
It's going to be almost impossible for investigators to recover any sort of evidence that really determines what caused the fires, he told Channel 2.
"Think about what you're doing," Smith said as a warning. "You have people traveling the roadways, you have heavy smoke involved, hovering the roadways, that could cause some type of accident."
Chris Lucas in the AM 750 and now 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center said the right lanes were closed late Friday morning between Sigman and Panola roads.
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