Wildfires Char Over 80,000 Acres in the Parched South

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The Party Rock Fire near Lake Lure, N.C. The blaze has engulfed more than 3,700 acres and is only 15 percent contained.

Credit
Abigail Margulis/The Asheville Citizen-Times, via Associated Press

ATLANTA — Dozens of large wildfires raged on Tuesday in the South, where more than 80,000 acres have burned and where emergency officials faced ominous forecasts of more dry weather and spreading flames.

Although the fires often stayed miles from cities and towns, the blazes had broad effects in the South. Smoke drifted far from the fires, reaching places like Atlanta and Charleston, S.C., and prompting state environmental agencies to issue air quality warnings.

The National Interagency…

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