Fire under Lenox Bridge under investigation

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - On Monday, temperatures were too hot for a vagrant to start a fire for warmth.  But the season made no difference when Atlanta fire got a call to respond to the Lenox Road area by Interstate 85.

Black smoke, thick smoke, came up from under a bridge. Motorists must have been experiencing Deja vu when they passed by. And one took out his cell phone and started recording.

The images were reminiscent of early 2017 when a large fire -- believed to have been started by a homeless person -- was fueled by highway materials that had been stored under the bridge.

On Monday, authorities believe a different homeless person set some trash and a mattress on fire. Firefighters tackled the fire and reported the incident to the state department of transportation.

An inspection team checked it out. There was charring on portions of the concrete but nothing that would put the bridge in jeopardy.

One of the Buckhead council members wants to know whether government workers routinely check all the bridges.

Spokespeople for the Georgia Department of Transportation and the city say those checks are done regularly.

But those assurances do not put Councilman Howard Shook at ease, especially with what seems to be increasing numbers of homeless who refuse to go into a program but prefer the hard life on and below city streets.