Tennessee Wildfires: Teens Playing with Matches Started Blaze, Report Says

SEVIERVILLE, TN — The two teens charged with starting the devastating and deadly wildfire near Great Smoky Mountains National Park were dropping lit matches along a hiking trail, sources tell the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The newspaper reports that the two suspects, aged 17 and 15, are from Anderson County, about 25 miles east of Knoxville and 50 miles from the park itself.

Sources tell the newspaper the teens were hiking on the popular Chimney Tops trail November 23, tossing lit matches onto the ground around the trail. Another hiker apparently captured an image of the boys walking away from the trail with smoke in the background, and authorities were able to use that photo to identify the teens based on their clothing.

The 17-year-old is the son of an Anderson County Sheriff's Office employee, according to the newspaper's sources.

Tennessee law prohibits court officers from identifying juvenile suspects except in very specific cases, such as murder or rape. While the district attorney has indicated he would consider trying the pair as adults, there would be some legal roadblocks. While Tennessee law allows 17-year-olds to be tried as adults in any circumstance, so long as a judge approves the transfer, defendants under 16 can only be transferred to adult court in the most serious cases, such as murder, kidnapping, robbery or rape. Aggravated arson is not among the charges for which a transfer is available.

Fourteen people died as a result of the fires, so a charge of felony murder could be supported, though the DA has not said if he will seek to add that charge. Prosecutors would need to show the boy's actions - by playing with matches - directly resulted in the deaths of the fire victims. The fire burned for five days inside the park but did not initially pose a threat to populated areas, but on November 28, fueled by 80 mph winds and a drought that gripped the area, the blaze jumped out of the park and spread through the popular resort town of Gatlinburg in less than 15 minutes, leading to the deaths, as well as the damage or destruction of more than 2,400 homes and businesses. Any action or inaction by the National Park Service in handling the initial Chimney Tops blaze would be a factor if the murder charge, which would qualify the 15-year-old to be tried as an adult, is added.

The two teens were scheduled for a detention hearing Friday, but that hearing was delayed. They remained locked up in Sevier County.

Image via Great Smoky Mountains National Park