Tennessee Wildfires: Three Dead, Hundreds of Buildings Burned, Thousands Evacuated from Gatlinburg

GATLINBURG, TN — Whipped by winds and unchecked by a persistent drought, a relatively small fire at a popular Great Smoky Mountains hiking destination grew rapidly Sunday night into Monday, spreading from 10 acres to more than 500 and threatening the area's two most popular resort towns. Three people have been killed by the fire, local officials said Tuesday.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park — the United States' most visited national park — was closed, and local officials ordered mandatory evacuations for Gatlinburg, the quaint town that serves as the western gateway to the park and for large parts of neighboring Pigeon Forge, home of Dolly Parton's eponymous theme park. Scores of homes and hotels were destroyed Monday and early Tuesday as a 10-acre fire on Chimney Top, a mountain in the national park that's a popular spot for hikers, rushed out of the wildlands and toward the twins of the Smokies. More than 14,000 people were evacuated by early Tuesday as the fire still raged and more than 150 homes were damaged or destroyed.

"This is a fire for the history books," Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said Tuesday. "The likes of this has never been seen here. But the worst is definitely over with."

Officials believe the fire spread from the Chimney Top trail to areas of the park closer to Gatlinburg and then, bolstered by 80 mph wind gusts, spread through the town in 15 minutes.

It was originally believed that no one had been killed, but Sevier County's mayor confirmed three deaths Tuesday afternoon.

"We do not have further information on them at this time," Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said at an afternoon news conference. "We are continuing to notify next of kin."

Sevier County residents were asked to refrain from using mobile devices except for emergency calls so that the more than four dozen fire departments working the fire can maintain contact. U.S. 441, Gatlinburg's main thoroughfare and the primary through-route in the national park, was closed to incoming traffic as the fire neared downtown.

The list of damaged and destroyed Gatlinburg destinations reads like a travel guide. The area's premier skiing destination, Ober Gatlinburg, was reported destroyed by the Sevier County Emergency Management Agency late Monday, but resort officials posted on Facebook Tuesday that the property was OK. Westgate Resorts, a complex of more than 100 buildings, is likely gone, as are the cabins at Black Bear Falls.

Not even destinations that encapsulate the woodsy, charming kitsch of Gatlinburg were spared: Mountain-themed miniature golf course Hillbilly Golf was consumed by the blaze. Employees of Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies were forced to evacuate, leaving the facility's 10,518 animals to fend for themselves. Aquarium officials said the animals can survive for 24 hours without human intervention so long as there is power and the building doesn't catch fire.

Dolly Parton, Sevier County's most famous native, issued a statement Tuesday saying that Dollywood and the adjacent DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge have been spared thus far.

The Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, a fixture in downtown Gatlinburg, lost just two buildings as the fire hadn't made inroads into the town's core, but even Monday night's rain did little to calm the blaze.

"It's the apocalypse on both sides (of downtown)," Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding told the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Four people with burns were transported to the University of Tennessee hospital in Knoxville, and three of those were then sent to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It is believed that in some of the isolated mountain communities, some people may have been trapped before escape was possible.

Up to an inch of rain is forecast for the area Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, which National Weather Service meteorologists believe will help firefighting efforts.

How To Help

The American Red Cross is asking people, even those wishing to volunteer, to stay away from Sevier County for now as emergency personnel try to defeat the blaze. Donations can be made online or by mail. Those wishing to volunteer, particularly once the evacuations are complete and the area enters the recovery phase, can sign up online.

Image via Great Smoky Mountains National Park Facebook