WXIA-TV, Atlanta

ATLANTA — A massive fire caused a portion of heavily traveled Interstate 85 to collapse in northeast Atlanta Thursday evening.



Firefighters moved out from underneath the span just in the nick of time to avoid injury, a Atlanta Fire Department spokesman told WSB-TV.

The fire, which started around 6:30 p.m. ET, broke out near the Buford-Spring Connector. Around 7 p.m. the northbound lanes collapsed.





According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, all lanes on the interstate were blocked by heavy black smoke that could be seen for miles.

“We do have the fire under control,” Atlanta fire spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford told the Journal-Constitution awhile later. He said there had been no injuries to motorists or first responders.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed tweeted that the fire had been extinguished with no loss of life.

The Georgia Department of Transportation warned all motorists to stay off I-85 near Midtown.

Spokeswoman Natalie Dale told the Journal-Constitution the department does not know what caused the fire. But she said GDOT bridge inspectors were on the way.

Gov. Nathan Deal told the newspaper that the construction crew that built the bridge has been contacted to determine how long it will take to repair.

Deal said the cause of the fire is unknown but “the speculation I’ve heard is that there are some PVC products that caught fire.”

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