ATLANTA — Crews extinguished a large grass fire Wednesday after a group of environmental protestors allegedly set fire to illegally dumped fires at "Cop City" in Atlanta, according to DeKalb Fire Department.
Firefighters were called to an area just outside of the Atlanta Police Department training facility where they noticed a plume of smoke. After arriving on the scene, fire officials stated that they noticed "heavy smoke and fire coming from a pile of tires." The tires were only about 600 feet from the facility entrance which had been barricaded by tires and trees, authorities said.
APD provided information to DeKalb Fire alerting them that protestors had been in the area when the tires went up in flames. After the fire was put out, DeKalb Fire requested an arson investigator to the site in addition to Georgia Power as the fire was burning under nearby transmission lines, according to an incident report.
The rift in Atlanta's "Cop City" stems all the way back to June, when protestors expressed dissatisfaction with Atlanta City Council's decision on what to do with a plot of land in DeKalb County that used to be a prison farm site. Community members want to keep Atlanta's South River Forest as a green, mixed-use space. However, the land has already been earmarked as a public safety training facility and has received its stamp of approval from the Atlanta City Council.
Atlanta Fire said it sent fire officials to the scene and they are continuing to investigate.
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