I am here at the opportunity on a couple of occasions to speak to the Fire Chief of Ontario Michigan. One or two of those employees fall to their death because they shouldnt have been there in the first place. We left Monday the 28th around 10:30 A.M. we could smell smoke but our home was fine and so was all of the rest of them in Chalet Village North. So many unanswered questions? 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. We really need to stop being so quick to cut of the heads of people doing their jobs and instead insist that they learn from and make changes for the better. It works like an Amber Alert to people who download the app and sign up. Multiple businesses were destroyed in the flames, totaling an estimated $7 million in damage. Case in point, the wildfires in Florida 1998, in which those experts were unaware of or underestimated the burning intensity of the Palm Oils from the Florida flora, which were as flammable liquid fires during those wildfires. I spent two weeks in the area after the fire to inspect my property and ascertain where my wife and I would go from there. The governors promised investigation has yet to appear (if it ever will), but the National Parks investigation is proceeding and no locals are on that team. Many times this tactic takes commitment of over a week. This rain took much of the heat out of the vegetation fire and slowed the spread, but smoke from the burning structures in the communities and smouldering logs in the Park continued to fill the air. That should have been done over Thanksgiving! Whether a tornado, hurricane or natural disaster, it weighs on your psyche. Lets see what reviews done by people with expertise in wildland fire management come up with. Instead simply took pictures on their phone, 3. It also led officials to. That said, it is always easier for those outside of the forest to see the big picture then those who are standing inside the trees down on the forest floor. Millions of dollars will be spent recovering and mitigating the after effects of this human caused and exasperated wildfire. Its always been this way so you have to watch who you deal with, this is why the City and County need to clean this up, this would bring down the prices of these people with signs up everywhere for clean up. When you see more of them completely charred but living trees seemingly untouched that is a sign of both underground burning and how much water the living trees still possessed. I think 6 days should have been plenty of time for them to do something we now see what inaction causes, dont we. I hope to remedy that starting now! Mitchell, Mt. The only way they will learn from the fire is if they have to face a jury of their peers to account for their ineptness even know they were in charge of protecting us and our homes and they did neither. 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. Fourteen people lost their lives. These breaks downs undoubtedly show shortcomings by officials. I was surprised that we saw no one at the closed Chimneys parking area early morning when we drove by. Please keep in mind our commenting ground rules before you post a comment. Kelly, Lloyd and anyone else that had home and/or businesses losses from the fire, tell everyone involved to write and/or call the governors office about what is going on. GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WVLT) - Four downtown Gatlinburg businesses are picking up the pieces after a fire Sunday morning destroyed their building. Typos, let us know HERE, and specify which article. Who can or will hold them accountable for their part in this tragedy? View all posts by Bill Gabbert. Why are there not more prescribed and controlled burns being conducted? The winds that Monday afternoon had knocked power lines down and early reporting made mention of separate ignition points in the residential hillsides. When I came out of dr. office, which is located on Middle Creek close to hospital, the atmosphere was eerie. 865-637-2442. The American publics outcry owe that much to the those whom lost loved ones, disrupted lives, destroyed both human property and natural resources in Gatlinburg, Tennessee during the Chimney Top 2 wildfire, November, 2016. of them backing up and saying this isnt our problem we are carrying on just like always. He had been experiencing the high winds back West all day and was alarmed at possibilities as well. We shouldnt have expected anything else, I dont know what we were thinking. Thats why I refused to use a local contractor. On the radio, a man in the Forestry truck was somewhere around the Roaring Fork area (as I recall) looking for possible spot fires reported near a residence and was talking about the strong winds. Those are low numbers for the southeastern United States. 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. On Friday, Gatlinburg city officials released a report detailing the downtown fire on Oct. 9. I got out of the car and walked up to the side of the pickup truck. He and the other NPS staff there regularly went on out of state assignments. The steepness here is epic, the only way out of valleys this steep is straight down or up, your lucky not to hit a waterfall. Much needed rainfall is expected on Monday with additional rainfall possible through Wednesday. Most events have a series of issues that contribute to the outcome, the more catastrophic the event the greater the number of contributing factors. Watch the pride and ego firefighters: youll never outmatch Gods elements. 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. Some of those businesses told WVLT News they have a long road ahead as they wait on insurance adjustors to calculate their losses. I had heard that many of the stumps and rotted out trees had become abnormally dry because of the drought. On Friday, Gatlinburg city officials released a report detailing the downtown fire on Oct. 9. Many locals are saying the lack of evac was income driven. Im thankful to be tuned in. The truck was filled with firefighters. I think thats pretty cut and dry and yes its their fault that they didnt at least try and do something. As citizens we should be aware of all threats we face and expect our leadership to plan ahead as best they can. I said Fed. There is an old saying he is known for: When government cannot accept criticism from the people, secular authority is no longer a democracy, but a dictatorship (paraphrased). Good points about differentiating between prescribed fire and the wildfire. Paddlers prepare to hit the water for the return of the Kualoa Hakipuu Canoe Festival, Former Mililani High athletic director indicted, Hawaii police departments offer big incentives as competition for new recruits heats up, Stroke survivor's specially-modified bike returned, Midday Newscast: City proposes $300 tax credit for those with homeowner's exemption, 'The Other Side of Paradise' with Lynn Kawano, KHNLPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KGMBPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KFVEPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KSIXPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246, KOGGPUBLICFILE@HAWAIINEWSNOW.COM (808) 847-3246. Out of all the issues evolving around negligence and what could have been done, etc. It is very hard and slow to navigate through laurel stands and the thick Tennesee Barbed Wire Briar patches. Firefighting resources assigned to the fire include 25 hand crews, 61 engines, 6 helicopters, and 2 dozers, for a total 780 personnel. The official cause is down power lines due to high winds and fallen trees, according to a National Park Service news release. A couple of weeks after hearing no hardcore news from Knox News, I wrote the editor asking if the News was still doing hardcore investigation of the fire. But, well see what the investigation comes up with. And each structure became much more of a threat than the spreading ground fire ever was. Have a wildland fire news tip? All without the but why reflection, cause and effect analysis, drill down technique and the inter-relationship effect. We could smell smoke from the fires in NC for a month before the fire began on Chimney Tops. Damage was estimated at more than $500 million, according to Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters. Special interest groups and other self serving human beings with other priorities cut budgets. Officials said three people. This fire season is a perfect example of why we do not need to lynch and discard those who have erred but gained highly valuable experience in the process. Within a few days or week prior to this deadly fire I heard a local major Knoxville radio station broadcasting a satire bashing HRC, Obama, the Federal Government among a few other controversial things, and how the revolution has begun including the incitement of burning down the place, this Knoxville radio station followed this rant with songs whose lyrics tough-ted and instructed the starting of fires. The extremely dry conditions in the area, though, should have raised the concern level. It is a primary source and illuminates some of the discussion topics that have been on Wildfire Today. A good example of the kind of human factors that continue to get in the way of better preparedness and change for the good is the backlash in which one reporter from NC received when she asked tough questions of some officials. On Sunday when GSMNP called in helicopter water drops, there were 3 fire tanker planes sitting on the runway 20 minutes away in Chattanooga (covered in Wildfire Today). I was near Gatlinburg until Saturday prior to the fire, visiting my family. I thought if we were have to leave we could take both vehicles to our friends house to sit out the night. Floods, tornadoes, severe storms, wildfires, mudslides, hurricanes, what else?, all present risks to humans and their property which require different degrees of political management and oversight in our various muncipalities to keep us safe or to help us recover if we suffer consequences when we arent kept safe. Jeanne: I do not disagree with your thought process regarding some of the broad challenges wildland fire mangers have faced in the past thirty some years. Not the best plan but the safest. If the Park Service had done there job in the first place and City and County leaders would have stepped in and done something this could and would have been prevented. Honor those who have risked much to help, indeed. The appearance of dead hemlock progression is astounding. 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. There is only one check point access at East Parkway (Hwy. We watched the news the rest of evening. Why were there so many wildfires being lit by arsonists all of a sudden this year? May God look out for all of you in your time of loss. But from what I have read the failure in this situation was in following procedure, so what can be added to have averted this fire and its terrible deadly consequences? The aptly named Fire Cherry, Beech and Mtn. Thank all of you. If an aircraft will be en route to a lit helibase or airport, they can drop 30 minutes after sunset then fly to the lit facility. If they had taken action the day it started instead of now using the excuse of the rough terrain, yeah it is but so is most mountain areas. I have a photo I took from the Walmart parking lot looking south that shows how smoky it was in Pigeon Forge. The teens, 15 and 17, were charged with starting the Chimney Tops fire which eventually spread to the Smoky Mountains, into Sevier County and Gatlinburg, killing 14 people, injuring more than. We watched local news and weather forecasts. Emergency crews were on the scene for 31 hours extinguishing the fire before the emergency demolition was requested. This isnt finger pointing its the simple facts of the entire situation like it or not! If Knox media wanted to go after the NPS or someone else wanted them to, it is possible that even their timeline and investigation is slanted. In addition, the valley above Gatlinburg, drained by LeConte Creek, has had enormous numbers of dead hemlock standing and fallen. It would be interesting to dig a little further on this. All the guy in the truck told us was that they had dug a fire line and were told to wait here. Then another large red pickup came down from Turkey Nest Road and stopped in front of us. I realize the City of Gatlinburg is open and ready for business and business is booming, thats good for them but it doesnt help those of us that lost their home. My main purpose in commenting was to differentiate between a monitored wildfire and prescribed fire. Well said, the terrain here is different than a lot of places, even out west. I have to assume that the city of Gatlinburg felt that since my road was county property that I was on my own. The fire on Sunday caused extensive damage to a block of businesses and left some with only charred debris, news outlets reported, citing a statement from the city. Our responses to this fire event have included comments with blame and fault-finding as well as a suggestion that we investigate in order to learn for future decision-making. On the night before I left for Branson, I had terrible nightmares of being caught in a forest fire in Branson. I told him my home was on fire and he said they were evacuating everyone,then. What the kids did was extremely wrong and they should and will be punished for it but any Philadelphia lawyer work his retainer fee well get these kids off with no more than arson and reckless endangerment. You are among several Gatlinburg residents that posted local officials told them that everything was OK as late as 5:30 and there was no evacuation notice. That is great knowledge to share. Standing dead hemlock burned up their trunks, to as high as 50 feet on one specimen I saw. We must open our eyes and ears and check behind each corner and crevice to see the reality and not just the story being told by a few. Bob called. Lets look in the mirror before we are too quick to blame someone else. The businesses include Cafe 420 . This fire was a terrible tragedy and would require tremendous foresight on the part of such people to have kept people from harm and property from destruction, in this case, because people needed to be aware of the likelihood of the imminent danger they were facing if they stayed in Gatlinburg on Monday evening and overnight. The remains of a business in Gatlinburg, Tenn., smolder on Nov. 29, after a devastating wildfire damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 buildings and killed at least 14 people. I think the point is that IMT managed wildfires in the southeast had residents in pre-evac mode when high winds were forecast before each cold front passed. Wednesday, November 23, the day the fire started. At this time, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials were contacted, according to the report. That doesnt mean excessive chainsaw mania; but it doesnt mean going to the other extreme with the type of forestry management in some of our Parks and other public lands. This makes no logical sense. They couldnt get out a cell mssg. The public cannot sit on their hands and expect anything to change. That didnt work out. The report stated the demolition was requested due to the health and safety of the citizens and visitors in the event of a full structure collapse.. 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. One good place, James, to view an area after a devastating wildfire is adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway in and around the 418 milepost-the Graveyard Fields/ Shining Rock Wilderness areas. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Facebook page reported (on Monday 11/28 at 1046am) that gusting winds have caused the fire to spot across the ridges in the Chimney Tops and Bull head Ridge Area. Who will accuse and then fire then? This should be placed firmly on the shoulders of the Park Service, Cassius Cash, Superintendent and the City and County. Thanks Henry. Since we had been planning all day to go downtown to play trivia at Smoky Mountain Brewery, we left the house about 5:55PM. Try to stay neutral I understand; but the NPS has a track record of avoiding accountability. Also, lots of hills in the area washed to bedrock by cloud burst and slides. The Thomas Divide Complex Fire comprises two wildfires the 140-acre Stone Pile Fire and the Cooper Creek Fire, which is estimated to be 170 acres. You may have a point regarding lawsuits, reported actions and actual actions. a wind and weather event like they got, that resulted in fire spread that resulted the the state TEMA command center to have to relocate in the middle of the incident gives a picture of what they were dealing with. I told Stanton I wanted him to drive our truck up to top of mountain behind house to get it away from house and out from under so many trees. Most of us are hopeful the two young man responsible for causing this fire will be severely punished however after all of the expert testimony to not only the Knoxville news Sentinel times what other periodicals claiming gross mishandling of the beginning of the Chimney Tops 2 fire by the forestry service as well as the Gatlinburg fire department I am certain that the Philadelphia lawyer that they have hired will use this in their defense and I would not bet that they will get a much lighter sentence as a result . At least that is my understanding. 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. They had their moment in history and did not rise to it. The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to stand up. I just hope, like Jeannine, that fire managers can learn from this tragedy because we really need the tool of prescribed fire in the tool box. With that said: were NPS officials aggressive enough in seriously emphasizing to Gatlinburg officials to start preparing for mandatory evacuations? 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? Bats were roosting in the church rafters and dropping feces onto the pews. Was it ever fully suppressed? Wildland firefighters typically request Spot Weather Forecasts from the NWS for wildland fires or other events that can be greatly influenced by weather. That mall is also rigidly enforced. 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. For the region, I hope fire officials do realize that regional history makes little difference if the right combination of factors exists for rapid and extreme fire growth. GSMNP manager said he couldnt order an evacuation but he surely could have recommended one as the forecast for high winds was given early Sunday. It must have been Sunday, because a Type 1 team came in on Tuesday. Nearly five years. @wvlt pic.twitter.com/P7roVBCq8B. But. Along with other Park issues like un-managed timber (very limited burns, mostly fields, not forested areas), we concluded the saying demolition by neglect. How did all the downtown businesses know to close and send their employees home, but not one word of warning was given to homeowners/residents? Something broke down here and at the risk of not being PC the important thing is that the issues are discovered and learning takes place followed by action. But instead great risks were taken through basic inaction and the consequences were disastrous. Thanks again for this forum. But until the awareness of possibility and the letting go of holding onto what we think we know to be the truth much will remain unchanged. Being asleep at the wheel is no excuse. This is the way to honor each other and to learn. So because of his and other incompetence property owners are paying the price. The fire broke out around 6:30 a.m. at the mall on the Parkway in downtown Gatlinburg. Chile is nearly a third world nation. Many citizens whom I spoke with had never heard the terms red flag alert and in absence of the term, were not aware of the situations that would lead to such a designation or where to turn to find information on wildfires. I agree with the earlier post that if this fire had been in Southern California or other areas subject to devastating fire if it would have been managed differently. No warnings of spreading fire, just radar and high wind warnings. 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. Flies north of fire (s) in TN. They didnt for one reason in my humble opinion: $$$ All rights reserved. Then and only then will He let you effectively manage His creation that He has allowed you to be a part of for a short time. Did the 14th fire discreetly burn in the duff amid rock cervices? I could not figure how to put pictures on Wildfire Today, so here are links to let you see whats happened in the Park. The fire could have been stopped over the weekend if proper procedures had been followed. Thanks for the correction Bill. Youre right change is hard to come by. We must change our minds first and then we must change our actions. The Gatlinburg fire chief put out a notice for additional help to come to Gatlinburg around 11:52 pm. At any rate, I have not heard any knowledgeable person say acquiring resources during those first five days was a major difficulty. Hasnt anyone noticed that friends groups are paying for major park infrastructure and various other projects that our Congress has failed to provide for?