Rome firefighters brought two separate fires off Booze Mountain Road under control Monday afternoon.
According to Darryl Jackson with the Georgia Forestry Commission:
A 4- to 5-acre fire on Booze Mountain Road just south of Georgia Highlands College on U.S. 27 was discovered at about 2:30 p.m.
The land had recently been covered with straw to control erosion during a road construction project.
Battalion Chief Steve Wilson said the fire was on Georgia Department of Transportation-owned land.
The controlled burn, which was not authorized by the forestry department and jumped a breaker plowed by DOT, was under control by about 4 p.m.
Wilson said the DOT will be contacted this morning and questioned about the burn.
Firefighters came across the brush fire near Georgia Highlands shortly after leaving the scene of a smaller brush fire in the 700 block of Booze Mountain near Otting and Sons junkyard.
It took firefighters about an hour and a half to extinguish the blaze, which involved a Jeep Cherokee.
Pfc. Dale Johnson with Floyd County police was dispatched to the scene to run the vehicle’s VIN number. Monday afternoon he said they had not been able to identify an owner.
Jackson didn’t know if the car caught fire after the brush ignited or if the car caused the brush fire.
Click here for a video report about the fire near Georgia Highlands.
