Ga. 400 reopens after nearly six hour closure

CUMMING - After being shut down for six hours Friday morning, the southbound lanes of Georgia 400 at Bottoms Road reopened to traffic just after 10 a.m.

Authorities said they were called to a tractor trailer fire on the highway around 3:50 a.m.

Forsyth County Fire Capt. Debbie Lindstorm said when crews arrived, they found an open trailer filled with compressed cardboard that had caught fire.

"It took several crews quite awhile to get the fire out as the carboard was compressed and bundled," said Lindstrom. "They had to work on extinguishing the fire and then pull the bundles apart."

Lindstrom said after the fire was extinguished, then a separate clean-up team had to haul away the salvage.

She said the driver of the rig was able to pull the cab away from the bed; the driver was not injured.

Morning rush hour traffic was rerouted onto Highway 9, which also remained backlogged because of early morning commuters.