today, there was a forest fire in either north fla, or south ga. it was so bad that here in tampa, the streets were foggy from the smoke in bright day. it smelled like fire all day. the schools wouldnt let the children go outside because of health hazards. did anybody else experience this?
i can smell smoke down here in Broward right now, i’m not sure if it is the same fire – there was a big one in the everglades that smoked us out a couple of weeks ago.
EDIT: apparently it is the same fire. i just went outside and it’s definitely very smokey.
Lots of stuff in the news here about the fires in Georgia/Florida. More here: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3120231&version=17&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Lots of news too about the tornado that erased Greensburg, Kansas. Looks like the US is headed for another regular summer of woe and disaster. Don’t the hurricanes start in two weeks? 
djm
well, the season starts in three weeks, let’s not rush things…
Subtropical Storm A-something is out in the Atlantic off the Georgia/North Florida coast.
Come on, Lamby. Let’s call it Hurricane Andrea, the first named storm of 2007. Far more dramatic that way. 
djm
'Fraid it fizzled to a drizzle. Which made the smoke-thing worse. Sigh.
I’ve been trapped indoors all weekend with the A/C on, wheezing my little lungs out.
Friday was dreadful. Looked out my office window and couldn’t see the next building. Had to go outside across campus to another building for a meeting.
That’s when I discovered that the hospital was handing out masks to staff and patients who were going outside to . . . smoke. And were they actually using those masks? No. They were tossing them on the ground.
Did I get to have a mask? No. I was “nonessential personnel.”
Quite honestly, I found that very, very annoying. Grrr.
Lamby, I know what you mean. Myself, between smoke outside, and paint fumes inside (office renovations) - it’s just about intolerable.
Hey…I’m also a “non-essential” employee, according to the “boss of my boss.” Are we “non-essential” for the same reason? Do the initials A.C., and the keywords hiring freeze mean anything to you?
We’re getting the smoke from the Okefenokee fire and the Live Oak fire along with some local fires that pop up here and there.
The smoke wasn’t bad today, but for the past four days it’s almost been like we’re stuck in a haze from the smoke. The smoky smell comes and goes, but yesterday it was really bad. It was almost like standing by a campfire.
It would seem that the smoke has cleared from my area. Nothing like a good smellin’ muck fire to get you going in the morning.