Oh thats right they did but it was after everything burned! There was much deadwood on the forest floor, including the Hemlocks and other species both down and standing dead. Published: Dec. 24, 2022 at 10:17 AM PST GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) - On Friday, Gatlinburg city officials released a report detailing the downtown fire on Oct. 9 that killed one person and. 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? Situational awareness to current and predicted variables, as well as the potential of possibility is key. And I dont write about that many of them. Brian Blanco/Getty. Take my word for it, Ive seen back scratching going on down there for over 40 years. When human death is involved, there should be accountability, even if there is unintentional negligence. However, by the time a federal judge dropped the charges six months later, some had lost focus on the fire. Some of the seemingly inexplicable burn patterns are due to the wind driven nature. But all sitting back and doing nothing to help. By the end of the day on Sunday the fire had burned approximately 35 acres, according to Ms. Schroer and the results from a mapping flight (see the 3-D mapabove). Ever since Hurricane Katrina, I have doubted the ability of our emergency managers to plan for any aspect of, or kind of disaster, and the fire in Gatlinburg only supports my concerns. The windspeed was 1 to 3 mph. The massive Gatlinburg wildfires, which began in November, caused the deaths of 14 people, injured 175 others and destroyed homes and towns all around eastern Tennessee. and see if he could get any information. He has had to struggle with the untimely death of his very healthy and active in younger retirement parents but both of us having been an EMS and fire service, he is of the opinion just as I am that the NPS as well as the Gatlinburg fire chief and the city and county officials have the most of blood on their hands . However, firebe it a wildfire, structure fire, flammable liquid fire or a a bi-nine campfire does not care or worry about budget cuts, staffing issues, political agendas, experienced or inexperienced decision making or other human factors. 2 min read. I hope that the firefighters, leaders, and authorities in this area make sure to perform in depth After Action Reviews and make changes to avoid these issues in the future. Had this fire+wind storm happened 3-4 weeks earlier it would have been exponentially worse, lots to be thankful for as we morn with TN. I would hope that we would fund the National Park Service much better so that cost-cutting is not so high on their priorities. January 4, 2017 at 5:26 pm notice should have been at 5-6 given the wind. Chile is nearly a third world nation. We both were winded, nervous, and running to grab one change of clothes, night clothes, and tooth brushes. And each structure became much more of a threat than the spreading ground fire ever was. Thanksgiving Day Global Supertanker 747 is responding to wild fires in Israel. But there have also been many times when these so called experts were thrust into a different climate or situation and they too experienced failures. The notice went out to people within 10 miles of the fireline. Thats why I refused to use a local contractor. Who was responsible for Gatlinburg fire? It is very hard and slow to navigate through laurel stands and the thick Tennesee Barbed Wire Briar patches. 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 is a truism that many people want all the benefits of government, but dont want to pay for them. When we reached Turkey Nest Road there was a big white crewcab pickup truck parked in front of Barbaras Real Estate. Damage was estimated at. 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. Yet no one made a move. I said at the time thatvwas crazy, evac. I stopped him and said, Stanton, weve got to calm down and go slowly getting out of here so that we dont scare Abram and so that we can drive safely. Anytime that one side seeks to destroy the other as opposed to actually raise the issues, I would raise a red flag and wonder what the distraction is really trying to hide! While I had the privilege is having dinner with the NPS director at a prescribed fire conference I am just a retired rx fire practitioner. What caused the fire in the Smoky Mountains? Until 1 p.m. sustained speeds were 4 to 6 mph with gusts at 12 to 19 mph. When I arrived in Branson at the hotel I was close to a fire exit, and frankly forgot about my nightmare. I am thankful so many are not only opening their eyes here, but taking action and questioning. Even this article seems to skirt around some of the issues and miss the depth of analysis it needs to effect meaningful change. Those businesses were also protected from the fire. ATF, other agencies search for cause of blaze that claimed life of Buffalo firefighter. Officials said three people. I am broken-hearted over it .. Their soft wood holds a lot of moisture normally, but the conditions the past few months would have dried the limbs and outer layers up the trunk. There may be some validity in the DA doing that, but it sure calls their integrity into question. The individual was identified as Joe Martin Bates, 54, according to the Sevier County Medical Examiners office. (Bloomberg) -- Zoom Video Communications Inc. slumped in early trading Friday after abruptly terminating the employment of . Their are undoubtedly many many causative factors for any disaster, even the actions, inactions and unintentional actions can be like a snowball rolling down a mountain of snow! With that all happening before lunch. One question I have not seen asked is why any adult would have witnessed children playing with matches and lighting fires especially under the obvious conditions in this situation and 1. not taken immediate action 2. Jeannine, its obvious that you write from the heart, and you write so well it is indeed inspirational. Experience must be coupled with training and planning based on forecasted possibilities and even un-forecasted what ifs. 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. The first thing you think is, Is this real?, said Tyler Neddo, a longtime employee of Caf 420. Our world is complex and it is a system of interacting parts, we all need to start thinking more globally (meaning systemic and how each part interacts with the other) in our processes and understand how each choice, decision and action we take personally and as a group affect all the other parts. I convinced my husband to drive back toward our house to see if we could see the fire. I was near Gatlinburg until Saturday prior to the fire, visiting my family. By the time we got to the Marshalls house it was 6:00 PM and they were watching the news. We had no significant rain in 2 months!!! The report said the fire was an accident and caused around $7 million in damages. Someone must have started the fire. The age of information is both eye opening and scary, the potential for manipulation is astounding! Too old to start over, fear it could happen again and they could be in their home like I was, or out and out mistrust of local government. Remember GSMNP is not Yosemite or Yellowstone with extreme fire behavior and a history of problems. Had they viewed the Chimney Tops 2 fire as though it was in the forested southwest Im sure they would have issued pre-evacuation notices up to 48 hours prior to the wind events of that Monday. Yet today June 5th, Sevier County still has their infamous gag order in effect more than 6 months later in the interests of prosecuting the trial of the murdurous kids. And . This is a text book example of waiting for rain and not planning for WHAT IF! She has given me permission to share it on this site. You are aware that Bill Gabbert the Editor of Wildfire Today spent a large part of his fire carrier with the Park Service where I believe he was served on a nationwide Type I IMT. 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. Excellent information and supporting documentation. Your are correct; and we all pray and hope for the community to get back on their feet again. There are thousands and thousands of people who feel as I do about your loss and the losses of so many people in Gatlinburg and the surrounding area. However, I still wonder why there has been no word from the governor about the post-fire review team he promised. Will we fail forward? Chimney 2 Fire Archives - Wildfire Today In turn, the IMT teams greatly appreciated the community support given by the effected areas, such as throwing a free Thanksgiving dinner for the thousands of fire fighters far away from their families. Google and Bing maps give a pretty good idea of the expanse of dead hemlocks. They will be touched in their heart as deeply as anyone who has lost in the tragedy itself. By 4:00PM the wind was getting stronger and we were not getting any updated information from local TV news. I can only hope that the actions are being undertaken somewhere and by the decision-makers and leaders to think and act differently. We were wearing bandanas wrapped around our faces at this point. I did not rely on a fire weather service for my information even though I new where to look, I used much of the common everyday information available to the open community, the data I had learned from and observed during the short time of being in this area, and current observations. No evacuation orders issued- If I had gone to work that day my two sons would be dead. Thanks again for this forum. WBIR is going to interview me as soon as two weeks from now regarding how I was taken for $120,000 by a crooked contractor that I was hooked up with by a log home firm. I wish this would turn into the biggest Court case in history. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge wildfire evacuation information - WJBF Officials identified Robert A. Hejny, 63, who was found at Traveler's Motel in Gatlinburg. Will the Firefighter Safety crutch of the last twenty plus years be the political linchpin to justify fire management strategy and tactics employed by the GSNP? One person was found dead in the rubble of a fire that broke out in downtown Gatlinburg early Sunday morning. Its all in moderately dense forest that overhangs above the road. We probably wont want to attribute 14 deaths to a non-native insect infestation, but in the end, can we say it exacerbated the situation? Anyone can arm chair quarterback incident manager decisions after the smoke clears. That said I have been an avid backpack or in hiker who has done probably every trail in the Smokies many times over. I was in my cabin on 28 November and barely made it out alive. We warned them about the approaching fire before turning the opposite direction to proceed on downtown. That factor is the density of residential development, layout of roads, and approved building materials present in that area. Some of the towns most impacted were Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, both near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Finally, the Superintendent has the power to call up all the resources which were available. Lets see what reviews done by people with expertise in wildland fire management come up with. So this has affected everyone in the area in one form or another. There is only one check point access at East Parkway (Hwy. At 3:00PM I convinced my husband to call the Gatlinburg Fire Dept. @wvlt pic.twitter.com/P7roVBCq8B. 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. Zoom Abruptly Fires President Greg Tomb 'Without Cause' Just the mechanics of this devastating wildfire without any editorial comments. In Gatlinburg, smoke and fire caused the mandatory evacuation of downtown and surrounding . Unfortunately this isnt always the case. The Championship side, who are 19th in the table, said there have been no injuries. On the map below, the fire is the small dot in the center surrounded by the yellow line. there is nothing that can address the failure of leadership at every level that contributed to that loss of life. Analyzing the fire that burned into Gatlinburg - Wildfire Today Even the courts of law no longer put as heavy weight on personal testimony, as so much has been proven to so easily be manipulated and affected by a host of factors. I agree that there needs to to be a change of attitude about climate change, wildfire potential in the east, an adaptation to changing conditions and a throwing out of the holding on to the been there done that, know all there is to know, seen this before thinking and the holding onto a world that used to be. Former Gatlinburg fire chief reflects as new wildfires burn - WTVF There are zones that are simply are impenetrable by cellular rays and even satellite has issues. It was as if time had passed with no motivational disaster to spur this awareness, at least not in my local community. Body found in rubble of Gatlinburg fire - wtvq.com The public cannot sit on their hands and expect anything to change. So property owners are left to deal with everything and if we had the power we would have done something like worrying the crap out of all of them until action was taken. For reference, 600 or above would indicate severe drought andincreased wildfire occurrence. Its incredulous that evacuation didnt go out then. The wind and the low visibility caused by the smoke made it impossible to fly aircraft over the fire. 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. That afternoon a Chinook Type 1 helicopter (Type 1s are the largest helicopters used on wildfires) began dropping water on the fire, refilling at Fontana Lake 13 miles to the southwest, according to a source we talked to who didnt want their name disclosed because they were not authorized to speak on the subject. 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. I fully understand the financial difficulties of the NPS and with firefighters abroad. I wish some barracuda Attorney would take this on and represent the property owners in a lawsuit to try to recuperate some of our losses, any takers? Here again, more of a horse and pony show from all officials both state and federal. How about that for arm chair quarter backing. Theres no guarantees that putting a couple hotshot crews with good air support on that fire earlier could have prevented this tragedy, but that would have been more defensible. I have been walking the woods around Gatlinburg a lot since the Fire. Now I can only imagine what children or adults with issues might have gleaned from this message being broadcast. I also noted that the use of Red Flag Alerts and prescribed burning around some of the more populace areas was both lacking, and being conducted during predicted high wind conditions. The report stated the roof started to collapse, and the building was deemed too unsafe to work inside. Sevier County remains Smokies Strong 5 years after wildfires - WBIR.com Fire-wanted or unwanted- is not a warm and fuzzy abstract thing it is often portrayed in todays media and society to play around with. I told her my concerns of fire, traffic, and falling trees blocking flow of traffic were there an emergency. Photos: Fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee | Photo Galleries | herald Yes. If the new location isnt in Gatlinburg, it will definitely be in Sevier County. Report: Gatlinburg fire caused $7 million in damages. Beginningat 2 a.m. on Sunday November 27 the relative humidity at Indian Grave dropped,getting as low as 17 percent at 8 a.m. and then lingering in the 20s and 30s until 4 am on Monday November 28. Also. LeConte, is spread primarily, if not exclusively through the air.Though I havent been there in awhile, there used to be a stunning grove of Hemlocks in the Linville Falls area off the Parkway approx. I understand the excellent point made in the article that history in the Smokies area would expect less of a problem than out West. They were told No, we have it under control.. These are the facts and simple truths that should not be ignored. The leafless trees allowed more sunlight to hit the fuel, drying it out even more. The one thing I noticed over the fall was that the National Forest Service held themselves accountable, called in Incident Management Teams from all over the country with big wildfire experience and those teams got it done. When did Gatlinburg burn . they if you limit that to local staff might not have as much fire management experience as say Yosemite or Yellowstone. Their chronological order of events doesnt match up with what some folks were observing posted on social media. Nicely put together article. The Seiver County Medical Examiner's office identified the man as 54-year-old Joe Martin Bates, according to the City of Gatlinburg. I checked historical aerial photos on the USGS website because the die-off of the hemlock has been primarily over the past 10 years in the southeastern Appalachians. Lets see, that would probably consist of a GS-5 or 6 and two or three seasonal GS-4s. Managers may need to keep resources in reserve for initial attack on new fires rather than a Hit it with all you have the Moment it breaks out. strategy. Whomever is in charge locally for the NPS should also be summarily fired. If you search around, you can find a recorded radio transmission by TN Forestry personnel from that fateful morning (my old brain doesnt remember where it was posted and I didnt bookmark it, but some other WFT readers may know). Tennessee firefighters find dead body in remains of Gatlinburg building You are reading this like most folks with common sense and a little analytical process, being all the data as you stated isnt on the table. Susan, The forecast issued Sunday included this text in the Discussion section: High pressure will hang on for Sunday with sunny skies and above normal temperatures. I was struck by the daunting task of creating a viable fire-prevention plan in that area of constant tourist turnover, and the way it is laid-out. The GSMNP PR person announced at 2:02 pm that fires were expected to grow over the next 8 hours with wind gust of 85 mph. The city said crews working the structure fire that . This was done to simply to avoid tort liability claims even though a claim was filed; and to avoid accountability. It was the hottest summer we ever felt. Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said the state can't prove that the horseplay of the boys, ages 17 and 15, sparked a fire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that caused the deadly . Our local congressional representative will be the first to confront the Park Service for numerous shortfalls, bias agendas that cater to special interest groups, and a host of other issues to where the NPS serves itself more so than the people. Those with information are urged to contact the Tennessee Arson Hotline at 1-800-762-3017 or the GFD at 865-436-5112. Good incident managers welcome open discussion and critique to learn and improve for future incidents. Firefighting aircraft were not used until helicopters dropped water on the fire Sunday afternoon, November 27 four days after it started. The adelgid apparently needs the rougher bark of older trees to climb up the trunk to the greenery on which they feed. You certainly got it right when you said that sometimes government does not listen and it takes a loud voice. It seems that not even people in western areas have learned that lesson very well, and now it is time for those with homes and property in the east to realize they are at risk too. The fire, which was reported at 6:39 a.m. Sunday in the 700 block of Parkway, caused extensive damage to a block of businesses, the city's spokesperson said. That seems to be confirmation that the fire had crossed 441 early in the day. Not the best plan but the safest. There was lots of sunlight and lots of low-level vegetation so much that the trail was overgrown and we decided to turn around. This fire was supposedly set On November 23rd, we were hiking there on November 25th, they had the trail blocked off closer to the top of the Chimneys 2, however we made pictures of the fire and it and the picture shows the smoke going straight up in the air, no one was there and it didnt look like they had done anything to contain it. The Knox News timeline alone has enough info for several indictments. They were asleep at the wheel. Another factor in the tragic outcome goes way beyond any mismanagement of the fire in its early period. We applied for the Dollywood assistance and FEMA and can get neither, Im not sure who they are helping but for us and our neighbors we arent getting anything. We waited as the days passed until we could go and see if ours had burned. All without the but why reflection, cause and effect analysis, drill down technique and the inter-relationship effect. 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.