Ive been told by others that they were waiting for the rain to move in based on the forecast and it didnt arrive when they expected so in the meantime they did nothing. All of the big trees were gone (although younger trees had been treated and saved). China Bazaar, Puckers Sports Grill, Gifts of Gatlinburg, and Caf 420 were all deemed a complete loss. Maybe a second year of drought? Until you sit in my seat after 20 years of fire service, making decisions on where to send your firefighters based on their experience levels, you will then realize decisions have trade offs and sometimes Mother Nature over rules you. I called Bob back and told him I was leaving hurriedly and that I would call him when we had made it out of woods to Pigeon Forge. Superintendent Cash says the NPS has no jurisdiction to issue evacuations for the City of Gatlinburg. Money and CNN. 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? Concerning the time the fire jumped 441. They had access to the same fire flight info from Sundays flyover that other agencies had. Will the NPS Fire Management leadership at the Regional, NIFC and Washington DC levels admit to some very poor policy and decision making problems associated with the Chimney Top 2 disaster? No. I have been on both sides of that equation before and still real-ling from my own losses that will negatively affect me and my family for life, because no one took the time to question or look into the story presented to them by those authorities in charge. Then the wind comes!!! Because we were heading home to Ohio early Tuesday morning, we packed our suitcases and put them in the car. I was in my cabin on 28 November and barely made it out alive. They just sat back and watched it burn. Thank you for making a point of the fact that we are all human beings with faults by design so that we need each other to succeed and survive. I ran other errands and stopped by cabin to unload groceries before picking boys up from school. We warned them about the approaching fire before turning the opposite direction to proceed on downtown. GATLINBURG, Tennessee -- The charges have been dropped against two teens who were accused of starting the wildfires in Gatlinburg last fall. Where is his accountability? The perfect firestorm. Thanks for adding more good insight. A fire burns at a high-rise building under construction in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. Flies north of fire (s) in TN. Pacific Buddhist Academy set to hold 17th annual Taiko Festival, the 14th annual Kualoa Hakipuu canoe festival back after a few years of kind of being shuttered because of the pandemic. GRSM firefighters spotted the new fire as they returned from responding to a report of a vehicle fire. 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 . There will be time to consider legal and civil options later . The dead hemlock had to have been of huge impact to the fire. Not every fire manager gets the benefit of a meteorologist in your hip pocket, but there are many good weather websites available. Shortly after that power was lost to the station and data stopped being recorded.
This is how the devastating Gatlinburg wildfire erupted overnight I have an Gatlinburg address but the county services my street. Civilians are dead, millions of dollars of personal property destroyed, millions of dollars were spent on containing the wildfirethe rains/snow finally suppressed it. 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! What authority does NPS have outside GSMNP? As I reflect on the comments regarding this fire, the articles and analysis, as well as any instance of leadership, decision-making and accountability, I have to askHow is it that one gets experience? All those who have experience from saythe wildfires out west, were not born with it. He actually wrote me back on Christmas Eve, of all things, to tell me that they will keep after it. wasnt blocked off since Mynatt Park was told to evacuate at 5:17. This goes all the way to our Congress and irresponsible, blind, budget cutting exercises. I was in my cabin the night of the fire and if I had spotted it a minute or so after I did I would not be alive to type this right now.
Tennessee wildfire near Gatlinburg prompts evacuations of 11,000 homes If that was the case, then they had to be fully aware that the fire was going to come down the mountain and burn not only NPS structures, but Gatlinburg structures as well?
Downtown Gatlinburg Fire at Puckers Sports Grill & More (OCT 9, 2022) GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) - Four downtown Gatlinburg businesses are picking up the pieces after a fire Sunday morning destroyed their building. Climate change, human, social, political and economic factors are all also a part of this outcome, cause and effect. This should be placed firmly on the shoulders of the Park Service, Cassius Cash, Superintendent and the City and County. At any rate, I have not heard any knowledgeable person say acquiring resources during those first five days was a major difficulty. IMT issued pre-evacuation notices in GA and NC each time they saw cold-front winds approaching that could would threaten communities. Was it ever fully suppressed? They were in their driveway with a water hose. They must be invited in by the state, so the bureaucracy and border silos are at issue here too. The mayor and many fireman lost their homes and businesses, not to mention the deaths. What is these adults had taken immediate action to correct and intervene in this unsafe behavior by children. Those people have their head in a hole, a burned out tree stump hole the very definition of ignore-ance. WTF were they letting the planes in Chattanooga sit idle? And on top of all that, they have teams that stay and clean up after the fires, repairing dozer and fire lines to reflect natural terrain, knocking down trees that would be a hazard to hikers and hunters, repairing the roads that heavy equipment damaged. China Bazaar, Puckers Sports Bar, Cafe 420,. Those are low numbers for the southeastern United States. Just looking at media coverage on the evacuation order public messaging snafu points out that this fire will provide many lessons learned for future fire managers. One week before the fire, a backcountry ranger confronted people that had built a fire at Alum Cave Bluffs. > 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. James, thank you for that compliment! Yes, some the ridges connecting to chimney-tops had dead hemlock stands. Above: The Drought Monitor issued November 29 showed Exceptional Drought, the highest category, for the Gatlinburg area and large sections of Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Many times this tactic takes commitment of over a week. It is not just officials who have not caught up with the new climate reality, it is the general public and those in the path of fire. Even Congressman from east TN and western NC need to here it. You said in your post what I have been thinking. The extremely dry conditions in the area, though, should have raised the concern level. Officials will verify renters and lease holders, as needed. We stopped long enough to make sure they saw the fire coming and proceeded on down the mountain. 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. 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.
Remembering the Gatlinburg Wildfires five years later - WYMT I may be alone in thinking that, but I do think the Feds would stand up to local influence. I was in the area hiking November 21 and there was no smoke coming from the Chimneys area. Finally a local coalition was formed to put pressure on NPS officials to uphold their mandate on historic structures. The immediate flash of ground clutter was followed by the much slower burning of the dead and down trees and stumps.
Hong Kong skyscraper fire could mean $64M payout, cause under investigation This is one of the wettest areas in the entire US, and when you do not not receive a drop of rain for months on end, you know something bad is going to happen. There are zones that are simply are impenetrable by cellular rays and even satellite has issues. Despite that, officials now say that the Gatlinburg fire began in the park and was.
How many homes were lost in the Gatlinburg fire? I guess they must think when you have to go up there to handle this mess they caused that you dont need lodging, food or gas to get there. Whether a tornado, hurricane or natural disaster, it weighs on your psyche. That and your wish to pay 50% income tax and there will never be a fire again! Until 1 p.m. sustained speeds were 4 to 6 mph with gusts at 12 to 19 mph. .. bless you all! The windspeed was 1 to 3 mph. When I arrived in Branson at the hotel I was close to a fire exit, and frankly forgot about my nightmare. Steve Brueck of DaculaWeather.com suppied us with Local Storm Report Informationfrom the National Weather Service that includes wind gust speeds in the general area. Another 2.3 inches accumulated that day by the time it stopped at 7 p.m. So we can learn by others successes and failures but we must also not hang our hats on them either, because the story is as individual and unique as there are an infinite number of variables. Instead 14 people are dead, many are injured, 2000 structures burned, loss is now a pandemic. One person was found dead in the rubble of a fire that broke out in downtown Gatlinburg early Sunday morning. I bet someone of you one here would sing a different tune if you loss a big chunk of your retirement because of someone incompetence.