GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: The Western fires are raising health concerns. Smoke can be hard on the respiratory systems of firefighters and area residents alike. But air quality is concerning several Southern states this summer for a different reason -- smog. Here's CNN's Brian Cabell.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For this afternoon, hot, high in the upper 90s. Code-red smog alert day again.</s>BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Code red, or unhealthy air, has become almost routine in Atlanta during these late summer days. In fact, Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency alerted four southern cities -- Houston, Baton Rouge, Charlotte and Atlanta -- that their residents should limit outdoor activity. Atlanta had actually experienced two code purple days earlier in the week. Purple is worse than red -- very unhealthy.</s>RAFAEL BALLAGAS, GEORGIA EPA: We have a lot of stagnant air, and hot, humid air, that causes the ozone to cook.</s>RACICOT: That cooking has forced cancellation of outdoor high school football practices, left school playgrounds empty, and kept the children inside. The students learn physical education in the gym. They take recess in the classrooms.</s>RENEE DAVIS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: They'd rather be outside, but they understand the reasoning behind it, so they're OK with it.</s>RACICOT: A good thing, because children are especially vulnerable to smog.</s>JUNE DEEN, AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: They have smaller lungs, but they're still taking in the same toxins that we as adults are, but it's just spreading itself over a smaller area to process.</s>RACICOT: Also at greater risk during the hot and smoggy days: the elderly. There's little relief in sight, with the temperatures soaring, with traffic and industry emitting toxins into the air. The children, the schools and all residents will just have to adapt until the atmosphere clears up and cools down. Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.
Air Quality a Concern for Several Southern States