A fire in two abandoned apartment buildings sent smoke billowing high above Atlanta, Tuesday.
The fires happened at 325 Chappell Road NW in two separate two-story buildings and sent Twitter into an uproar as residents from miles away spotted a black column of smoke.
Atlanta Fire spokesperson Sgt. Cortez Stafford said one of their own units got a call on reports of smoke in the area around 3:30 p.m.
"Once they got near the scene we saw a heavy column of smoke," he said. "Had to cut a gate to get into this vacant apartment complex here."
They found the fire on the east side of the complex and found one building "fully involved." It collapsed a short time later.
"At the same time, some other units arriving on-scene actually saw another building on fire separate from and not close to the building that had just collapsed," Stafford said.
He said that fire was in the basement of the building and was caught quickly enough that it didn't spread as far.
Crews on the scene called in a second-alarm fire as a precaution though firefighters already on the scene were able to safely contain both blazes - and a nearby grass fire - without incident or injury.
Fire investigators are now working to determine the cause of the fires though they do consider them suspicious since the complex is supposed to be vacant.
