Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Fire and wind update
Officials of the City of Gatlinburg, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park have reported widespread fire damage and continued fire activity throughout the Gatlinburg area and much of Sevier County including Wears Valley, Pigeon Forge, and Jones Cove. Gatlinburg authorities have evacuated the town after reporting that numerous structures were completely lost to fire including businesses in the downtown area and private homes throughout the area. At last report, officials did not have information to release regarding the current size of the fire, the number of structures burned, or injuries. Dan Flener of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency issued a release saying the American Red Cross is assist Sevier County residents after officials ordered evacuations for Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and other parts of the county. A total of 1,200 people also have sheltered at the Gatlinburg Community Center and at the Rocky Top Sports Park. Fire crews are still battling blazes throughout Sevier County, and as a result, Cocke and Sevier County Schools as well as Newport Grammar are closed today Monday evening, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to secure a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) for the Chimney Top Mountain fire, which caused the wildfire outbreak in Gatlinburg. Flener said officials currently estimate about 100 homes impacted county wide due to the fire, including 10 homes in Gatlinburg. Approximately 30 businesses have been impacted in Gatlinburg, including a 16-story hotel on Reagan Drive, the Alamo Restaurant, and the Driftwood Apartments reportedly were fully-involved near the Park Vista Hotel. There are no reports of fatalities. There was a report of a report of a burn injury to a male evacuee and there is also was a report of minor injuries due to a fire truck being involved in an accident. The Tennessee National Guard is in the process of mobilizing 100 personnel from East Tennessee to assist Sevier County with transporting 1st. responders, removing light debris, and assisting with welfare checks. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is securing fuel resources and equipment. Tennessee Department of Tourist Development representatives are identifying lodging resources to assist those displaced by the wildfires. Tennessee’s Fire Mutual Aid system is coordinating the arrival of 50 to 60 fire engines from local departments as far north as Greenville, and as far south as McMinn County. The Tennessee Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies are deploying strike teams to assist with evacuations and traffic control. TEMA is asking residents in Sevier County to stay off mobile devices unless it is for emergency calls. Extreme weather conditions Sunday afternoon through Monday led to the spread of fires both inside and outside of the National Park. Severe wind gusts of over 80 mph, unprecedented low humidity, and extended drought conditions caused the fire burning in the National Park to spread rapidly and unpredictably, in spite of suppression efforts on Sunday that included helicopter water drops. Wind gusts carried burning embers long distances causing new spot fires to ignite across the park and into Gatlinburg. In addition, high winds caused numerous trees to fall throughout the evening on Monday bringing down power lines across the area that ignited additional new fires that spread rapidly due to sustained winds of over 40 mph. This morning conditions remained extremely dangerous with trees expected to continue to fall. Officials are asking that motorists stay off the roadways throughout the area. Travel in the Gatlinburg area is limited to emergency traffic only, and he National Park is closed at the Gatlinburg entrance. Wind gusts Monday evening tore off portions of the Smoky Mountains Elementary School roof as basketball practice was underway. Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes told the NewsSource that the roof did not collapse, no debris fell onto the 40 occupants and there were no injuries. The subsequent rain, he said, fell through the roof onto the gym floor. The Cocke County Fire Department, volunteer fire units and the Newport Rescue Squad responded to the scene. Sheriff Fontes said his deputies spent to night assisting residents to evacuate Gatlinburg. "I can't say enough about the cooperation of the various departments," the sheriff said. "They came from Kingsport to Knoxville to assist in fighting one of the largest fires in East Tennessee history." Jimmy Robertson of the Newport Utilities Electric Department reported that the high winds resulted in multiple outages in the Cosby, Hartford, and Grassy Fork communities over night. With a peak outage of more than 2,800 customers. He said all available crews were working to restore power to those areas, but just before 7 am, Robertson reported that multiple outages still existed due to the high winds and falling trees. He said customer outages were fluctuating around 887.


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