Wildfires raging in the Tennessee resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, north of the Great Smoky Mountains have forced residents and visitors to evacuate. (Reuters)
Fire is still raging through two Tennessee tourist towns on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, along with much of the surrounding timberlands.
Officials said the blaze — which started on the Chimney Tops mountain, one of the most popular hiking destinations in the Smokies — spread Monday to the quaint resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. By that night, winds had climbed to 87 mph — carrying away fiery embers and knocking power lines down to dry ground; then “everything was catching on fire,” Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said.
By Tuesday morning, the flames had shut down the country’s most visited national park, forced thousands to flee their homes and vacation rentals throughout Sevier County and injured a dozen people. No missing people or fatalities have been reported, authorities said.
“This is a fire for the history books,” Miller said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
[Few women fight wildfires. That’s not because they’re afraid of flames.]
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said Tuesday morning that more than 14,000 residents and visitors have been removed from the area, which was described as dark, rainy and slick, with fires burning all around, according to NBC affiliate WBIR. Haslam said the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) has urged residents in Sevier County not to use cellphones to keep systems clear for vital communication, unless it was to make an emergency call.
TEMA also announced a temporary flight restriction in the area “to prevent aircraft from complicating the response,” and residents were asked to stay off the roads to make way for first responders.
“The center of Gatlinburg looks good for now,” Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding told the Knoxville News Sentinel. But he added: “It’s the apocalypse on both sides.”
Miller, the Gatlinburg fire chief, told reporters that firefighters were “still actively fighting fires,” although wind gusts were down significantly from Monday night.
“This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint,” Michelle Hankes, executive director of the American Red Cross of East Tennessee, said about the response effort.
Hankes, who recorded a video statement at an emergency shelter in Pigeon Forge, said that about 130 people, including children and pets, have turned up there while fleeing their homes. Hundreds of others were sheltered elsewhere.
“This fire is unpredictable,” Hankes said, crying. “We still have wind gusts — the rain has helped, but it’s still a devastating, devastating loss for the people here.
“These are our community — this is East Tennessee and we’re going to work together.”
Miller said Tuesday that 12 people were transported, mostly with injuries that were not life-threatening, from the Gatlinburg area to nearby hospitals. Emergency officials had said that three people with severe burns were transferred overnight from the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville hospital to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, and a fourth with facial burns was being evaluated at the hospital in Knoxville.
The town of Gatlinburg, with a population of about 4,000 about 43 miles south of Knoxville, is surrounded on three sides by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies, part of the Appalachian mountain range, straddle the border between eastern Tennessee and North Carolina. Considered the gateway city to the Tennessee side of the park, Gatlinburg draws more than 11 million visitors a year, according to tourism officials. It is known for its mountain chalets and ski lodge — drawing honeymooners and other visitors all year long.
Gatlinburg’s neighbor, Pigeon Forge, is home to the Dollywood theme park, country-themed music venues and attractions, and popular outlet malls.
The fire exploded from 10 acres Sunday night into a 500-acre blaze Monday night, according to Reuters.
Residents evacuated as trees caught fire on the low slope of the hills and mountains on either side of the road — the flames’ orange tendrils licking at the asphalt and black smoke obscuring the sky.
“Fire was coming over the mountains, and the smoke was so bad we could barely breathe as we were trying to pack up,” Mike Gill, who was evacuating with his wife, Betty, told NBC News.
Flames soon began engulfing private structures, including the 300-room Park Vista hotel in downtown Gatlinburg, and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency declared a Level 3 state of emergency.
Inside the Park Vista, dozens were trapped Monday by a wall of flames around the building.
Logan Baker told WBIR that firefighters initially told hotel guests they would be safe. A short time later, though, “they saw flames coming down the hill.”
By the time the guests had packed their cars with luggage and tried to escape, it was too late, Baker told the station, noting that the only road leaving the area was covered in flames. “When you opened the doors, it just blew you back,” he said. “Embers started flying into the hotel.”
Baker told WBIR he helped bring people back inside the hotel. Once inside, firefighters told them to remain in the lobby while they fought the fire outside.
Video taken from inside the lobby shows massive flames licking at the windows. Guests can be overheard discussing a plan to “dive into the pool.”
“Well, they locked the pool up,” a woman can be heard saying.
#Gatlinburg park vista Hilton hotel pic.twitter.com/MN2CaLNYDF
— ローガン Logan (@Redwolfstone123) November 28, 2016
The fire also forced employees at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies to evacuate Monday, abandoning more than 10,500 animals, Ripley Attractions General Manager Ryan DeSear told WBIR.
DeSear said the blaze was about 50 yards from the building when employees were forced to flee.
“To them, every animal has a name,” he said. “You don’t give that up.” But he added: “Nothing is more important than human life. Fish can be replaced. It sucks.”
Late Tuesday morning, however, Ripley announced that the animals were “safe and under care.”
[More than 10,000 aquarium animals, dozens of bald eagles spared as fires rage in Tenn.]
Officials said Tuesday that both towns sustained widespread property damage, with no real relief in sight.
TEMA said that “very preliminary surveys of damaged areas” suggested that “hundreds of structures are lost.”
“Westgate Resorts is likely entirely gone (more than 100 buildings),” TEMA said, “Black Bear Falls has likely lost every single cabin.” The agency initially said that Ober Gatlinburg Ski Area and Amusement Park “reportedly is entirely destroyed.” However, the mountain resort posted a video Tuesday morning showing the facility still intact.
Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, is the largest theme park in the area. In a public statement, park officials said there was no damage to the park as of late Monday, but 50 rooms in the park’s DreamMore Resort and 19 of its cabins were evacuated.
“Dollywood crews and firefighters are working to protect the park areas adjacent to a fire burning on Upper Middle Ridge,” according to the statement.
Park officials said in a statement that “extreme weather conditions” in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park “led to the exponential spread of fires.”
“Conditions remain extremely dangerous with trees expected to continue to fall,” they wrote Tuesday morning on Facebook. “Officials are asking that motorists stay off the roadways throughout the area. Travel in the Gatlinburg area is limited to emergency traffic only.”
“Even with the rain that is currently falling there,” TEMA said Tuesday, “the fires continue to burn and structures remain engulfed with little hope that the rainfall will bring immediate relief.”
This was just sent to us by a friend in Gatlinburg. This is on Airport Road up by Sidney James Lodge. pic.twitter.com/xhrgtqj6el
— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) November 29, 2016
More than 1,300 people have been sheltered at the Gatlinburg Community Center and at Rocky Top Sports World, a sports facility in town.
“It’s very dangerous weather conditions,” Dana Soehn, spokeswoman for the National Park Service, told ABC affiliate WATE-TV. “We’ve had trees coming down, limbs coming down, and the fire is continuing to grow.”
Park officials explained that the severe wind gusts of more than 80 mph, combined with “unprecedented low relative humidity, and extended drought conditions,” caused the fire “to spread rapidly and unpredictably.”
“Wind gusts carried burning embers long distances, causing new spot fires to ignite across the north-central area of the park and into Gatlinburg,” park officials said. “In addition, high winds caused numerous trees to fall throughout the evening on Monday, bringing down power lines across the area that ignited additional new fires that spread rapidly due to sustained winds of over 40 mph.”
The conditions made it difficult — if not impossible — for firefighters to contain the flames.
“The wind is not helping, and the rain is not here yet,” Miller, the Gatlinburg fire chief, said earlier at a news conference, according to CNN. “These are the worst possible conditions imaginable.”
Just sent to me Wedding Chapel in Gatlinburg pic.twitter.com/JYZMiibs3R
— Beau James (@kingofkingsport) November 29, 2016
Fire threatens beloved Arrowmont School of Arts/Crafts in downtown Gatlinburg.https://t.co/9E8cyikXQ8
(Photos: Bill May)@wbir pic.twitter.com/mMjPlMvorH
— johnnorth (@jnbeatlefan) November 29, 2016
“If you’re a person of prayer, we could use your prayers,” Miller told reporters Monday night.
The Southeast has spent much of the past few weeks battling forest fires, which began after one of its worst droughts on record. Several states have been affected.
As The Washington Post reported Nov. 16, when there were 17 active fires in the southern Appalachians, “The entire state of South Carolina is covered in an unhealthy haze from fires burning in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”
At that time, more than 80,000 acres had been burned.
A raging wildfire spread into downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Nov. 28. Onlookers and residents captured images of the leaping flames and smoke-filled skies as police issued evacuation orders. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
This is a developing report, and it will be updated.
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