A bit smoky outside: Controlled burns happening in Alabama bring haze to Polk County

Wondering why it smells like a campfire outside and seems so hazy?

That’s thanks to forestry officials over in Alabama, who are conducting controlled burns inside of the Talladega National Forest, and closer to home in Floyd County.

Additional smoke conditions are expected to “inundate” Polk County for the time being, per the message that Polk County Emergency Management sent out earlier.

Officials are asking local residents to refrain from calling 911 for information about potential fires in the area with messaging sent out this afternoon across Polk County to phones, social media and more.

Officials from the Polk County Emergency Management Agency were unsure if additional burns would be conducted in the coming days, but expected to provide updates when information becomes available.

Showers are forecasted overnight and into tomorrow morning hours for Alabama and Northwest Georgia, which should extinguish the fires and delay additional controlled burns for at least a day while material dries out. Don’t expect the controlled burning to return immediately, with additional wet weather in the forecast to cap off the week and into the weekend.