As I learned in the first 12 hours what took place there, I realized that there was almost no preparation for the risk of a fire, on any Youve certainly added much food for thought. These words are so terribly inadequate but I feel even worse not saying anything at all. Fire those managers! It is unfortunate that sometimes a few seek to blame someone so quickly that they miss the opportunity to really get to the root of the causes for those issues in the first place. It would be interesting to understanding the impact of excessive fuel from dead hemlocks, killed by hemlock wooly adelgid (together with the lack of moisture typically found under a mature, live, shady hemlock canopy, even with the extreme drought conditions) had on this fire. Both east and west forks of the Pigeon River. Do we need to learn from it. Superintendent Cash says the NPS has no jurisdiction to issue evacuations for the City of Gatlinburg. Monday I was surprised to look at the Knoxville News and see nothing about evacuation notices. Crews working a Gatlinburg structure fire that began early Sunday morning discovered a body. The Gatlinburg ByPass is also closed. Published: Dec. 24, 2022 at 10:17 AM PST GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) - On Friday, Gatlinburg city officials released a report detailing the downtown fire on Oct. 9 that killed one person and injured another. The fire continued to spread throughout the entire structure. Of course, the city of I know that because of my experience, my training, my ongoing learning and situational awareness of a host of related and seemingly unrelated knowledge. This goes all the way to our Congress and irresponsible, blind, budget cutting exercises. I felt it urgent to get out of the woods. Are county officials telling people about the Code Red Alert System? Experience by itself often lends to complacency and been there done that thinking. I am not holding my breath. This story Im telling is all factual you see I have a problem with anyone exaggerating events as well as lying so I tell the truth regardless of how unpopular it may be. Honor those who have risked much to help, indeed. Im sorry but that initial fire management at the outset was atrocious. The news person is very frustrated as she nor their rival Channel 8 can do no interviews due to the gag order. As the crow flies, thats not far from Gatlinburg and Ive heard of and read about how quickly wildfires spread and how far reaching they can be under dry conditions from drought. The forecast issued Sunday included this text in the Discussion section: High pressure will hang on for Sunday with sunny skies and above normal temperatures. Even the courts of law no longer put as heavy weight on personal testimony, as so much has been proven to so easily be manipulated and affected by a host of factors. On the night before I left for Branson, I had terrible nightmares of being caught in a forest fire in Branson. Fires in the Great. time. Local folks here who have been involved with Park issues have an old saying about the NPS and their mismanagement of historic structures. At least that is my understanding. Excellent information and supporting documentation. I was on the phone w them that Mon. Kids should be charged and pay a price but so do several officials in the good old boy still lives on in the town of Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg businesses look to rebuild after massive fire. Almost every creek drainage in GSMNP has stands of dead hemlocks (though some areas near roads had some hemlocks treated regularly to prevent adelgid infestation). I always come back to that groupthink mentality, the ladder of inference, the been there done that mode, the failure/fear to act, and thats how weve always done it thinking; all part of how our unconscious brain works without our conscious intervention and critical thinking skills. People were ready to leave their home in 15 min. I hold you in my thoughts and prayers for healing and recovery there are others who have posted about their losses on this blog, Kelly for one, and I did not give myself peymidfipn to say these words to them at the time .. So they were more concerned about NPS structures than our homes and lives? Bob had stayed in West TN after Thanksgiving, to work there for a few days before returning home so he wasnt with us. As we reached the Parkway, everything was deserted. Those people have their head in a hole, a burned out tree stump hole the very definition of ignore-ance. 1,000 feet of rise / 0.2 mile (1,056 feet) is a slope of 94.7%, not 77%. The extremely dry conditions in the area, though, should have raised the concern level. One of the owners of the impacted businesses called a contractor to demolish a damaged portion of the building. It was hard to drive because of falling leaves, branches, smoke, wind, and nerves. When the simple laws of fire physics and chemistry correctly combine, fuel, heat, oxygen, and in the wildland fire arena available fuels, topography and ideal fire weather conditions mix in perfect alignment plus given adequate TIME, a-bine unattended campfire, an arsonists match, or a slowly backing down-slope surface fire in leaf litter during a record setting drought will ultimately result in a disastrous conflagration. The terrain was steep, a vertical distance of 1,300 feet from the bottom of the drainages to the top of the hill. You have my utmost respect for firefighting; and Ive recently addressed a firefighter who was an apparent spokesman for the local media patty-caking. With all due respect to your comment, you seem to be a bit condescending toward some folks asking very legitimate questions; and giving the impression you are trying to the get the heat off the back of NPS officials. I told him there wasnt when I got there at 5 oclock but I could not even see driveways on the way up. Later it changed to a mandatory evacuation. Ive not had a chance to hike post-fire areas in the mountains yet to see fires effect on dead hemlocks, but what Henry said about dead stumps burning into the ground looking like a volcano rings true with what Ive witnessed in mountain forest areas that burned decades ago. It must have been Sunday, because a Type 1 team came in on Tuesday. Would be interesting to dig down to find the ash line (which is probably illegal on federal lands). GSMNP manager said he couldnt order an evacuation but he surely could have recommended one as the forecast for high winds was given early Sunday. Where was all the HELP TO PUT THIS FIRE OUT A WHEN IT STARTED???? This is a developing story. So many unanswered questions? There is no cost, and in case you change your mind each email has an unsubscribe button. Below is the stateof access to the fire area, as reported by the IMT: The National Park is closed from the Gatlinburg Entrance to Smokemont near Oconaluftee (US 441, Newfound Gap) and Little River Road from Sugarlands Visitor Center to Townsend. When I got home our dog was sneezing repeatably so I brought her in. Some of those GSMNP personnel were trained out west and know how fast a wildfire spreads in high winds. You can see in the leaf pattern around it how a strong gust pushed up against the side of the house. Had this fire+wind storm happened 3-4 weeks earlier it would have been exponentially worse, lots to be thankful for as we morn with TN. How far from the Chimney Tops, as the crow flies, were these pictures taken? I understand the excellent point made in the article that history in the Smokies area would expect less of a problem than out West. True, our firefighters and 1st responders put their lives in harms way and we should respect them; and yet distinguish these folks from officials who are undoubtedly making bad calls/decisions. How did all the downtown businesses know to close and send their employees home, but not one word of warning was given to homeowners/residents? Not committing firefighters to direct attack in a steep very hard to access high risk area was a good decision. Concerning the time the fire jumped 441. there is still a nagging question regarding the use of BACKFIRE on the part of the NPS and the Gatlinburg Fires? We must as you say accept that humans are emotional beings and that goes for those who lost and those who stand to perhaps lose their jobs and livelihood often for making the best decisions they could with what was available to them at the time. 10/10/22, 1:56 p.m. I can hear it now, hasnt the NPS learned anything in the past 10-20 yrs? God doesnt cut financial budgets. if/when evacuation notice was given. Accountability! Our responses to this fire event have included comments with blame and fault-finding as well as a suggestion that we investigate in order to learn for future decision-making. Thank you for the timeline and the opportunity for comments. The governors promised investigation has yet to appear (if it ever will), but the National Parks investigation is proceeding and no locals are on that team. Too often the only voice that is heard in our society is money and the more one has the more they are heard. We drove down to Calhouns complex, through their parking area and back out onto the parkway and headed east. They didnt and now its the property owners problem, they havent offered any clean up assistance, free dumping fees, no permit cost to rebuild, and certainly no financial help. Instead 14 people are dead, many are injured, 2000 structures burned, loss is now a pandemic. I am sure the Alum Cave trail up Mt. If you search around, you can find a recorded radio transmission by TN Forestry personnel from that fateful morning (my old brain doesnt remember where it was posted and I didnt bookmark it, but some other WFT readers may know). Many citizens whom I spoke with had never heard the terms red flag alert and in absence of the term, were not aware of the situations that would lead to such a designation or where to turn to find information on wildfires. People that I know said that not implementing fire suppression is exactly what they should have done, so we can agree to disagree. He told me he was scared to drive the truck-its a lot more cumbersome in the local terrain than his little Outback. As my husband was carrying things to the car at 5:00PM, a white SUV came by. A mandatory evacuation should have been issued, at the latest, Monday morning, with reverse 911 calls, as well as loudspeaker equipped vehicles. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the GFD, Gatlinburg Police Department, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. WBIR is going to interview me as soon as two weeks from now regarding how I was taken for $120,000 by a crooked contractor that I was hooked up with by a log home firm. This is a complicated incident where many lessons can be learned. But the last one, issued at 7 a.m. EST on Sunday by Eric Holweg, did predict strong winds. If their destination is not lit, they have to land there no later than 30 minutes after sunset. CNN A wildfire burning near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Sevier County, Tennessee, has grown to more than 3,700 acres and impacted more than 100 structures, County Mayor Larry. Shame on you. Early in the afternoon we began to see large crewcab pickup trucks driving past our home. But all sitting back and doing nothing to help. I am hopeful that there are enough folks taking note of and keeping a watchful eye out for this situation, so that lies and cover-up will be vetted. Most of us are hopeful the two young man responsible for causing this fire will be severely punished however after all of the expert testimony to not only the Knoxville news Sentinel times what other periodicals claiming gross mishandling of the beginning of the Chimney Tops 2 fire by the forestry service as well as the Gatlinburg fire department I am certain that the Philadelphia lawyer that they have hired will use this in their defense and I would not bet that they will get a much lighter sentence as a result . It caused a shutdown . Kelly Morgans comments may have been harsh and offensive to some folks; but when government builds a wall; sometimes it takes a loud voice to get their attention. High winds were to start soon and rain was 5 hours away as indicated by radar. Finally, the Superintendent has the power to call up all the resources which were available. It seems to me that the extreme wind was as unprecedented as the drought and the low stream levels. One week before the fire, a backcountry ranger confronted people that had built a fire at Alum Cave Bluffs. It is likely that spotting did keep the ground fire spreading into the areas where the homes were, and certainly on the southern edge of town it was the primary ignition source, but I am still skeptical that the homes to the north of town were ignited that way. I hope the governors investigation team finds all of the miscues AND gets proper training for all the different agencies involved. Jeannine, what an awesome, in-depth and thoughtful response. Of course they wont. It appears that the Deputy has contradicted himself here. James, thank you for that compliment! I agree with you Bill that it isnt Most but whether it is a few or many isnt the point for me. The adelgid apparently needs the rougher bark of older trees to climb up the trunk to the greenery on which they feed. It was about this time that we noticed the wind beginning to get stronger. Yes, some the ridges connecting to chimney-tops had dead hemlock stands. I was afraid to go into Park with boys.