Lee County and Auburn residents woke up this morning to a thin haze of smoke in the area, but that smoke wasn't from a Lee County wildfire, according to Chambers County Forester Matthew Lowe.
A large brush fire in Harris County, Georgia, created enough smoke to blanket Lee County in a light haze Wednesday, Lowe said. Chambers County, southern Randolph County, northern Lee County and Tallapoosa counties are all being affected by the smoke.
"It's all drift smoke from Harris County, Georgia," Lowe said. "They had a huge fire yesterday and last night, and we have a pretty low dispersion today. That means that smoke isn't dispersing into the air. It's just laying down. That's why it's coming this way."
There are, however, at least two active wildfire in Lee County, but Lowe said they aren't "big enough to create this kind of smoke." There is a 5-acre fire off of Lee Road 178 east of Opelika, which is contained, and there Forestry officials are chasing smoke off of County Roads 71 an 217 near Roxana, Alabama, in Lee County.
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The governor expanded the previous Drought Emergency Declaration, or "No Burn Order," to all 67 counties in the state Monday, banning all outdoor burning because of the dry conditions. The previous declaration on Oct. 12 only encompassed 46 counties.
“Although 46 counties in North Alabama were already under the No Burn Order, it was necessary to add the remaining 21 counties in the southern part of the state because of alarming wildfire activity and continued lack of rainfall,” Gov. Robert Bentley said in a press release. “The expansion of this No Burn Order is critical to keeping our citizens safe from the threat of wildfires and reducing the chance of avoidable fires.”
And in the last month, over 1,100 wildfires in the state have burned over 13,000 acres, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission. In the past week, two wildfires in the county burned 70 acres.
As of Nov. 8, Lee County is within three drought categories, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Most of the county is under "extreme drought," though portions of the county are also under "severe drought" and "exceptional drought," which is the highest intensity on the drought monitor.
Last year, the county, and most of the state, wasn’t even in under a drought category, according to the monitor. Only small sections of the state were labeled "abnormally dry," which is the lowest intensity category on the monitor.
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