NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) " Starting campfires, lighting fireworks and smoking cigarettes are among the outdoor activities being banned across the South as fires burn in forests stressed by drought. That includes a north Georgia fire that's burned an area the size of Manhattan. The Tennessee Valley Authority issued a burn ban Tuesday on its public lands across Tennessee and in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia. In South Carolina, the Department of Health and Environmental Control issued a code red alert for 25 counties along and west of Interstate 77 through to Orangeburg County. The fires in North Carolina now cover in excess of 40,000 acres.

Source: New Zealand Herald November 16, 2016 09:35 UTC