Corker and Alexander know what would happen if they tried to interfere with a Federal prosecution! It appears that only TEMA has the authority to give a notice over multiple counties, but they didnt take the lead until Monday night, after the fact. Excellent information and supporting documentation. Great info/synopsis of the Gatlinburg/Sevier county wildfires. On the evening of the fire, I was monitoring tornadic storms across northern Mississippi because my family were driving to For example politicians far away from the event make decisions regarding funding, resources and operations. There are A lot of cheap seats in the arena filled with people who never venture onto the floor. It's always sad to see the destructive forces of Mother Nature. I would like to insert the word, accountability into this discussion. I thought if we were have to leave we could take both vehicles to our friends house to sit out the night. I began to notice people smoking while driving their vehicles when I would be out and about and they would flick burning embers out windows and sometimes throw cigarettes out windows. We all contribute to this phenomenon if not intentionally but unintentionally, simply by the design of our brains! Stupidity is as stupidity does. Maybe within the next year, well see some kind of progress come together, said Neddo. I told him my home was on fire and he said they were evacuating everyone,then. Even life-long locals said they had never seen rhododendren wither up before. Officials said three people. All you left out was Howie Long jumping out of a plane on a motorcycle with a chainsaw running and you would have knocked that thing into last century! Also. Frankly people should lose their jobs and fault should be placed on their shoulders. After the fact they called in helicopters to dump water on the fire which is what they should have done in the first place and didnt, WHY NOT? No evacuation orders issued- If I had gone to work that day my two sons would be dead. When you have an active, non controlled fire, an area in exceptional drought, late fall vegetative conditions, and southerly winds of 40 to 60 MPH forecasted, you do not need to be a nuclear physicist to realize the potential (probability) that a catastrophic fire event is right at your doorstep. In all the Disasters I have worked in Texas, FEMA reimburse City or County for debris pickup. 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. The identities of the three killed have not been released . Any person involved in any sort of firefighting/fire ecology/fire control/fire management profession learns these basic fire physic scientific principals from day oneeither from formal training or through hands on fire behavior observations . Bob called. A spokesperson for the city said the Gatlinburg Fire Department was dispatched to the 700 block of Parkway in downtown Gatlinburg at 6:39 a.m. on October 9. The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to stand up. Your are correct; and we all pray and hope for the community to get back on their feet again. Ive learned so much on this blog over the past 6 weeks about how forest fires are managed and fought and Im most grateful for that. Too often the only voice that is heard in our society is money and the more one has the more they are heard. Many fire managers in that situation would immediately attack emerging fires very aggressively with overwhelming force, that is, many firefighters on the ground assisted by numerous aircraft dropping water or fire retardant. Copyright 2022 WVLT. GFD officials examined the scene and found a body, later identified as Joe Martin Bates, in Suite 4. The fire was south of Gatlinburg. 321) at Glades Road and the Post Office. According to Public Information Officer Seth Butler, the Gatlinburg Fire Department and the Pigeon Forge Fire Department were dispatched to downtown Gatlinburg at 6:39 a.m. on Sunday, Oct.. > Jeannine In my 40 years in the fire service (Calif and Alaska), I have seen an unfortunate number of cases where agencies in generaland the NPS in particulardesignate fires as monitored event(s) (insert favorite agency terminology here) that hours, or days, later explode into huge incidents. All without the but why reflection, cause and effect analysis, drill down technique and the inter-relationship effect. I told him to go up and park in driveway close to where I wanted to leave the truck and that I would drive truck up. Fire crews were dispatched to a structure fire around 6:30. Read more Tennessee Wildfire Cause: Gatlinburg Fires May Have Been Man-Made, Officials Claim is an article from: The Inquisitr News. When peoples towns and lives are at stake, letting a fire burn or hoping to get lucky is a tough sell. On the radio, a man in the Forestry truck was somewhere around the Roaring Fork area (as I recall) looking for possible spot fires reported near a residence and was talking about the strong winds. They strive to their utmost and have a true passion working in GSMNP. There is a marked increase in smoke and decreasing visibility due to the smoke. I hope they can train more local governments how to handle big wildfire situations. But. It is important to look at many facets, evidence and root cause studies so that the issues can be resolved. The city said crews working the structure fire that . night at 9pm when mom said there was evacuation notice on TV. I repeat The NPS and the Fire Chief of Gatlinburg should have started fighting the Chimney Tops 2 fire aggressively the day it was discovered. I have for years pointed out to my students the dead hemlock all over the mountain. This rain took much of the heat out of the vegetation fire and slowed the spread, but smoke from the burning structures in the communities and smouldering logs in the Park continued to fill the air. Would it be wise to implement backfire with such strong winds forecasted on top of exceptional drought and fuels? Jeannine, what an awesome, in-depth and thoughtful response. In regard to the Knoxville News Sentinel article by Don Jacobs and an apparent press release statement by the Deputy Superintendent of GSMNP: There was no way the fire could have been extinguished before the winds came. Jordan says. 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). Thanks again for your touching reply. I have here a firsthand account of how a homeowner, who lost her house, lived through the days before the fire and through the fire. This fire was a terrible tragedy and would require tremendous foresight on the part of such people to have kept people from harm and property from destruction, in this case, because people needed to be aware of the likelihood of the imminent danger they were facing if they stayed in Gatlinburg on Monday evening and overnight. The wildfire began burning in a remote location of the park (Chimney Tops) in steep terrain with vertical cliffs and narrow rocky ridges, making access to the wildfire area . We must change our minds first and then we must change our actions. People responsible during the initial stages of the Chimney Top 2 wildfire need to be held accountable for violating these basic rules of fire physicsperiod. Those with information are urged to contact the Tennessee Arson Hotline at 1-800-762-3017 or the GFD at 865-436-5112. Google and Bing maps give a pretty good idea of the expanse of dead hemlocks. Granted these fires werent inside Gatlinburg, but the fire chief knew full well the potential for catastrophic wildfires in these mountains. Hopefully all of those affected will be able to begin again. I particularly liked Sharon Jensens after action summary. An ongoing lawsuit against the National Park Service over its handling of the 2016 Gatlinburg Wildfire is on hold as a federal judge considers a motion to dismiss the suit. He also raked as many leaves as he could from around our cabin. Now I am tasked with trying to motivate and coordinate the local fire departments much of who are volunteer, the state and national forest professionals to work with me and the community. I look forward to seeing the report when it comes out. I turned on tv to see if there were warnings of any sort. Click here. I later learned that Sevier County pays for an emergency notification system called Code Red Alert. GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) - One person died and another was injured in a large fire in downtown Gatlinburg Sunday. It goes for miles, Ive pushed as hard as I could straight down and only managed 1/10th mile an hour on the gps in a few such places. Every business downtown was closed except for Bubba Gumps. 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. This is as far as this subject needs to go; for the objective of this site is in regard to wildfire. A true lackadaisical response. Finding out about the fire has hurt me almost as much as it did the locals. Crews working a Gatlinburg structure fire that began early Sunday morning discovered a body. But those heroes should have never been in that situation in the first place. We have a mountaintop cabin about 50 miles south of this area. January 4, 2017 at 5:26 pm I was surprised that we saw no one at the closed Chimneys parking area early morning when we drove by. We drove carefully and made it out of woods into Pigeon Forge safely. They were taught with classroom didactic and hands on training, by sharing of lessons learned by others, and the best learning opportunity available, the best teacher of all; the actual experience itself. As we reached the Parkway, everything was deserted. Another factor in the tragic outcome goes way beyond any mismanagement of the fire in its early period. What makes one golden and one not? We had loaded dog and Abram in car, out of smoke and told them to stay put. Youre right change is hard to come by. Instead simply took pictures on their phone, 3. But the last one, issued at 7 a.m. EST on Sunday by Eric Holweg, did predict strong winds. 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. We looked at each other and I asked if we should leave or go back and try to use the water hose to protect the house. Perhaps all the firefighters prior experience was giving them mental slides that were no longer valid given the conditions. There should be accountability for those in charge, in every arena of governance and responsibility and at every level. It caused a shutdown . James, thank you for that compliment! Yes my house burnt along with 520 others in North Chalet Village, village no longer but all foundations. I have a close friend on IMT in southern CO so have some familiarity with the process. If Im not mistaken, there is a Bob Stanton that was a former NPS Director. It means they eliminated natural causes, such as lightning and volcano eruptions. My vacation cabin in Gatlinburg burn to the ground on November 28. Jeanne: I do not disagree with your thought process regarding some of the broad challenges wildland fire mangers have faced in the past thirty some years. Other than the way the police were able to evacuate 4,000 people from Gatlinburg with little notice on Monday evening, everyone else involved did a very poor job. It is no wonder that the people do not trust Government. Another 2.3 inches accumulated that day by the time it stopped at 7 p.m. Bob and Stanton snuck around back roads and made it in a few days earlier than most and found what we were fearing. I learned that it is extremely difficult to manage, rather than suppress, a wildland fire for an extended period of time. Their inter-agency investigation needs to look at the 1st Chimney Tops Fire of the 12/13th to the 17th of November 2016. For the availability of resources our local volunteer departments are doing a good job, but things are changing and we need to get out of the boxes we are in, and start critical thinking and creatively to meet the challenges of the future because they are rapidly descending upon us whether we like it or not. Our place was gone. Shortly after that power was lost to the station and data stopped being recorded. A fire burning under those conditions would likely burn more intensely, have a rate of spread faster than normal, and have more resistance to control. Who ever was in charge should loose their job!!! Thats why I refused to use a local contractor. I know as I have been there many times due to security interests. There may be some validity in the DA doing that, but it sure calls their integrity into question. There was lots of sunlight and lots of low-level vegetation so much that the trail was overgrown and we decided to turn around. When human death is involved, there should be accountability, even if there is unintentional negligence. Some of those businesses told WVLT News they have a long road ahead as they wait on insurance adjustors to calculate their losses. Thanks again for this forum. GATLINBURG, Tenn. UPDATE (Monday): Firefighters discovered a body in the rubble of these fires, our ABC affiliate WATE reported Monday morning. Im not saying IMTs are perfect (and no doubt there are background politics involved), but they sure appeared to do an awesome job coming to the situation with a big view and didnt hesitate to get the job done and keep the public informed. There could be traffic jams. In this case, there were no firefighters in a position to take direct action. (Originally published at 11:04 a.m. MST November 23 . They lost phone coverage but didnt activate the Motorola wide area radio system. I was in my cabin on 28 November and barely made it out alive. This is a developing story. Our forest service guys have been very busy with hand efforts, running dozers in our hazardous terrain and with aircraft. Not every fire manager gets the benefit of a meteorologist in your hip pocket, but there are many good weather websites available. The fire continued to spread throughout the entire structure. They just hurl mean criticisms and put downs from a safe distance Brene Brown. The news person is very frustrated as she nor their rival Channel 8 can do no interviews due to the gag order. With that all happening before lunch. Thats perfect Johnny. Yet, at that very time, citizens were asking city employees and fireman if they should evacuate (well documented in the local news). I was on the Party Rock fire in NC and our IMET was predicting that storm event 3-4 days before it happened. Susan, Some may be pines, but the vast majority appear to be hemlocks. Not just putting out the fires, but restoring the forest and trails afterward. Property owners still have the rights to protect their property. Are county officials telling people about the Code Red Alert System? The remains of 745 Main Street in Buffalo on Thursday, March 2, 2023., where a fire broke out on Wednesday . A lot of chainsawing has been going on. When I arrived in Branson at the hotel I was close to a fire exit, and frankly forgot about my nightmare. We saw some trucks when we drove out late morning. There were cliffs in the area but firefighting Hotshot Crews can figure out how to work on steep slopes, sometimes backing off a bit, constructing a fire line and intentionally burning the fuel in between, preventing further expansion of the fire. By NPS rules a watch should have been kept on the fire overnight Sunday, but such did not happen. So whether the defendants started the 14th fire or not, a close examination of this Facebook press release indicates the fire apparently started on the 13th; and yet a social media photo post claims the 12th clearly showing a lack of response once again in fire suppression by the NPS. Shortly after he left, he called my husband to tell him that the road between our house and downtown Gatlinburg was blocked by a crew from Sevier County Electric. I would also hope that we would figure out that such major climate disruptions as the recent drought in the Southeast are getting more common and that human action has helped cause, and can help cure, such disruptions. These people both the successful along with the ones who erred and experienced failure, courageously risked being vulnerable in order to help others. Good comments by all. There is much opportunity in the Eastern Appalachians to better prepare citizens, towns , leaders and firefighters; To create more fire aware and safe communities. 3:36 p.m. Gatlinburg Fire Department is going door-to-door asking residents to voluntarily evacuate to a Red Cross evacuation shelter set up at the Gatlinburg Community Center located at 156 . Love your neighbors, yes. Late Monday afternoon the Gatlinburg Fire Department began informing some residents of a voluntary evacuation. Prescribed burning is a critical ecosystem management tool across the nation, especially in the Southeast (https://goodfires.org/how) and when the term is used interchangeably with monitored wildfires it can lead to confusion. Rain began falling late Monday night and continued until 6 a.m. Tuesday, totaling 0.78 inch at Indian Grave. Down hemlocks are mostly just gone. However, an event such as the Gatlinburg fires undoubtedly leads to a can of worms that some folks would rather just sweep under the rug. All without the but why reflection, cause and effect analysis, drill down technique and the inter-relationship effect. Cleanup continued Tuesday, with crews piling up rubble near Traffic Light 6 on the Gatlinburg Pkwy. The Chimney Tops fire was a wildfire being monitored given limited resources initially because of the many other ongoing fires in the region to which fire-fighting resources were committed. National Park Service says never push a slower friend down when escaping a bear, Knoxville utilities crews work to restore power after intense storms, Missing elderly Knoxville woman last seen at hospital, police say, Vols drop to 5-seed in SEC Tournament after falling at Auburn, 79-70. the downtown fire on Oct. 9 that killed one person and injured another. Your reply well done! Waited a month to report this event and turn over the pictures they took to forestry officials! Apparently, when the second fire was started by the defendants on the 23rd, the NPS assumed they could handle the 23rd fire like they did the first fire of the 14th. The power of nature is awesome and often far beyond our ability to predict and react to in a timely manner. I get free speech, but if I yelled fire in a crowded theater when there was none and it contributed to death and injury I too would be held liable; my speech would not be protected! Thanksfully ATF agents helped TN Bureau of Investigation put their full resources at hand and arrested to two teenage idiots that started the fire. And I dont write about that many of them. Typically instead of outright termination, the NPS is classic just to relocate the personnel and in some cases give them a promotion to keep them happy and from whistle-blowing; or just live in a delusional world of denial. 1,000 feet of rise / 0.2 mile (1,056 feet) is a slope of 94.7%, not 77%. I knew him when he was at Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore. I can tell you that within the week prior to this fire in the Greenbriar section of the GSMNP, I hiked on trails rustling through leaf litter that came up to my mid shins. In total GFD crews, in addition to, Pigeon Forge Fire Department, Sevierville Fire Department, Sevier County Ambulance Service and Pittman Center Fire Department assisted in extinguishing the blaze. If the Park Service had done there job in the first place and City and County leaders would have stepped in and done something this could and would have been prevented. What about helicopters dumping water? There are hundreds of hemlock skeletons heading north from Chimney Rock. I told him I would call fire department in Gatlinburg across from Food City. On Sunday evening we discussed with Gatlinburg friends the forecast for high winds on Monday, so I disagree with local Gatlinburg officials that they were caught by surprise. Jim Renfro, the air quality specialist for GRSM, said the strongest wind gust recorded at Cove Mountain was 87 mph at 9 p.m. on Monday. Yes a lot is somewhat predictable, just as this fire, but not every aspect is, there are too many variables in the real world. It upset a lot of locals, but many lauded it. http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/tennessee/2016/12/13/timeline-gatlinburg-wildfires/95138656/. We are facing some very large problems around our globe and in our own home communities, that will require some out of the box thinking and collaboration, some tough questions, and a lot of personal accountability review and growth. Personally, I have already started reconstruction on my cabin but the consensus on Chalet Village north which was 540 cabins and now stands only at 20 remaining Is that about 70% are not rebuilding for a variety of reasons . Conspiracy, no. On November 11 some hikers found a fire built in the middle of the trail on brushy mountain trail. The radio conversation was fairly early in the day as I recall, maybe 7:30-8:00 am. I would like to express that there are sincere and dedicated folks working for the National Park Service. From 7 p.m. until midnight sustained winds were at 13 to 17 mph with gusts from 34 to 49. What were the emergency managers of this county doing/thinking at this time? Thanks for the good fact based, solid coverage of the events leading up to the fire. This is a failure at the city, county and state levels, as well as top FEMA, leadership. The GSMNP officials were able dodge the negligence and management shortcomings of the 2000 fatal black bear attack in Elkmont as well as discrediting and slandering a former District Law Enforcement Ranger who was involved in the incident. But if park management had been spending budget on fire management capabilities equal to those sites there would likely be criticism of that. Drought, fall winds, fuel moistures that havent recovered in months, what part of this disaster was a surprise. As a citizen with a firefighting background, I knew days ahead of time that high mountain winds were expected in the Eastern TN/NC Mountains, coupling that with the extreme drought conditions and the knowledge of the massive amount of ground fuel available in the forest based on being in the forest regularly even just days prior, outside observing the conditions and the terrain. How many sorties could those planes do in an single day even if they had been deployed on Even Friday?? We are still dealing but two of us or degree, the emotional loss of losing our beloved cabin but now we are in the rebuild mode. It had burned into a picnic area and crossed the main roadinto the park, US Highway 441. He asked them if they had any information on the fire and they told him Youve got nothing to worry about. By this time the wind was blowing hard and strong. I do remember the bad fires in the 1990s in Florida and Colorado (I was in Glenwood Springs at a week-long seminar only a week after the Storm King Mountain aka South Canyon fire). 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 .. By the time we got to the Marshalls house it was 6:00 PM and they were watching the news. I felt it urgent to get out of the woods. As we drove south out of Pigeon Forge I took another photo before we entered the spur, which shows smoke and a red glow above Gatlinburg. Paddlers prepare to hit the water for the return of the Kualoa Hakipuu Canoe Festival, Former Mililani High athletic director indicted, Hawaii police departments offer big incentives as competition for new recruits heats up, Stroke survivor's specially-modified bike returned, Midday Newscast: City proposes $300 tax credit for those with homeowner's exemption, 'The Other Side of Paradise' with Lynn Kawano, KHNLPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KGMBPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KFVEPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KSIXPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KOGGPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246. Suddenly a fire truck from Harriman came careening around the corner and headed up Turkey Nest Road. 10/10/22, 1:56 p.m. It is now time for aircraft (usually helicopters) to start washing the fire off the hill. Park Service has not issued any warnings and there are no active fires in Gatlinburg city limits. I ask her if they had plans of issuing a warning if evacuations became necessary and ask her how they would do that. At 10AM we drove to Sevierville to buy more materials (to eventually add to the bonfire). FF get lulled into thinking they know by instinct but that era ininct will get people killed and thatas what happened. Those strong southerly winds had been forecast a good two days before the fire broke through into the developed areas. 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. Gatlinburg Fire Department crews responded to the scene and received help from Pigeon Forge Fire Department, Pigeon Forge Police Department, Sevierville Fire Department, Pittman Center Volunteer Fire Department, Sevier County Emergency Management Agency, Sevier County Medical Examiners Office and Sevier County Ambulance Services. Accountability! That didnt work out. Person killed in downtown Gatlinburg fire identified. The next morning, the morning of 28th, I took boys to school and went to a dr. appointment in Sevierville. Neddo said total shock is the only way to describe how he feels. Local folks here who have been involved with Park issues have an old saying about the NPS and their mismanagement of historic structures. Once again the County and the City is sitting around twiddling their thumbs and doing nothing just like they did when the fire started and they could have contained it. I certainly agree there are definitely consequences for our actions, for some more than others. and last updated 4:48 AM, Apr 05, 2022. Over 3000 wildfires received Initial Attack in November in the southern Appalachians, many of which were still very active when Chimney Tops 2 started. The chain reaction that if un-inhibited can create the perfect storm, block the perfect solutions or that can lead to the ignition of possibility and opportunity. If I had even been in the bathroom or downstairs I wouldve died . By the way, the drainage to the northwest, where NPS had placed their line, is .2 mile and ~1,000 feet vertical (77% grade) of mostly weathered rock. A guy in the red pickup rolled down his window and said You have to get out of here! My husband and I turned around, drove back to the Parkway and out the Spur to Pigeon Forge. When one seriously examines the events, these lives could have been spared despite the power of fire and wind. Ms.Schroer said she was not aware of any actual on-the-ground fire suppression efforts, other than perhaps some work on a distant indirect fireline, until Monday November 28, after the fire had grown large and crossed US Highway 141, the main road into the park. Gusts above 40 continued until 2 a.m. on Tuesday when they mostly dropped below 20 mph for the rest of the day. On-the-ground fire suppression activity took place Monday when firefighters took defensive action to protect structures at a nearby GRSM picnic area. Our Gatlinburg Inn was built on family and community. The IMT reported that the fire had not increased in size over the previous 24 hours and was still listed at 17,006 acres. I wonder why? Yes, good points Jody. From what I understand, the adelgid spreads from tree to tree via the ground, which is why young hemlocks with smooth bark are rarely infested with adelgid. Of course they wont. 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. High winds were to start soon and rain was 5 hours away as indicated by radar. At 2 a.m. Monday the wind speeds recorded at Indian Grave began increasing and the direction became more consistently out of the south and southwest. I can feel for the service providers and the devastated fire victims. I know its good and natural periodically to let forest fires burn, but under the extreme drought conditions in this area, I was uneasy that fires werent being put out. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the GFD, Gatlinburg Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. I would hope that we would fund the National Park Service much better so that cost-cutting is not so high on their priorities. Firefighters from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge responded. Though Im missing the boat a little here, my questioning is still legitimate being that any managed ignited fire can still get out of control adding to an existing wildfire or creating one. That is great knowledge to share. Since we had been planning all day to go downtown to play trivia at Smoky Mountain Brewery, we left the house about 5:55PM. Take a look at the Chimney Tops Fire of Nov 14th, 2016 and you really might begin to question what really went wrong here. An in depth investigation should be launched and the (ir)responsible parties identified. Be sure to bring valid forms of identification showing name and address of residence or business inside Gatlinburg. Once again, can fire discreetly smolder in the duff amid rock crevices? There was much deadwood on the forest floor, including the Hemlocks and other species both down and standing dead. They need to be accountable for their inaction, and action.