who caused the gatlinburg fires?nicole alexander bio

A fire burning under those conditions would likely burn more intensely, have a rate of spread faster than normal, and have more resistance to control. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge wildfire evacuation information - WJBF If it was felt that people on this fire were at risk then dont staff the fire. It was about 11:30AM when we got to downtown Gatlinburg, where I took photos of the heavy on the Parkway in town. Suppression actions, especially backfires, causing way more damage to natural resources than the wildfire is doing., First rule of any structure fire or wildfire. 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. Yet no one will be severely punished i.e. According to FOX 5's Matthew Cappucci the smoke plume got to about 3,600 feet and . I seriously question if bias will be discreetly worked into this agency and their review of the fire?? Wednesday, November 23, the day the fire started. 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 is written by Stephanie Sweeney, whose house was off the Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. People responsible during the initial stages of the Chimney Top 2 wildfire need to be held accountable for violating these basic rules of fire physicsperiod. None of our fires escaped, in part because we had some very smart, very experienced people in key positions. if/when evacuation notice was given. Yes my house burnt along with 520 others in North Chalet Village, village no longer but all foundations. I would recommend reviewing Wildfire Todays post titled: NPS releases information about the Chimneys Tops Fire 2 as well as the post Analysis of wind, vegetation, and air tankers before the fire burned into Gatlinburg. Many fire managers in that situation would immediately attack emerging fires very aggressively with overwhelming force, that is, many firefighters on the ground assisted by numerous aircraft dropping water or fire retardant. Shortly after that power was lost to the station and data stopped being recorded. Late Monday afternoon the Gatlinburg Fire Department began informing some residents of a voluntary evacuation. Neddo said total shock is the only way to describe how he feels. The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to stand up. I told him there wasnt when I got there at 5 oclock but I could not even see driveways on the way up. Who ever was in charge should loose their job!!! First rule of any structure fire or wildfire. We believed the firefighters were going to stop the fire from entering the city. I am like you in that I will never be able to get a good nights sleep on the mountain again as Im all be consistently looking out the window. The NPS, IMO, did not take an aggressive stance on this fire, and that is usually the case with them. The windspeed was 1 to 3 mph. They got info from NPS about the fire spreading. Ash move in quickly after a fire, and through the yearly process of shedding their leaves, make it difficult for seeds from the Red Spruce/Fraser Fir/Hemlocks to make an effective seed-soil contact, thus when we lose one of these magnificent evergreen forests, it truly is a tragedy in more ways than one. 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. There are a lot of downed trees and a lot of trails are temporarily closed to deal with them. She may have chosen poor timing, and perhaps not the best method of tackling the issues, but nonetheless we need to start asking the tough questions without being so offended and then take a good hard look at the issues, and how they can be resolved. Before we got in the car, we each took photos of the approaching fire with our cell phones. In a time in which the NPS and all other government agencies are under attack and certain factions are seeking to replace all our government agencies with private for profit industry I would not ignore the possibility of anything. I hounded the Knox News editor for a followup article around Dec. 19. No warnings of spreading fire, just radar and high wind warnings. Tom, I want to express to you how sorry I am to hear about the loss of your cabin, what you went through escaping the fire, what you have gone through since the fire and what you are facing. 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. notice should have been at 5-6 given the wind. So sometime during the night as we now know everything burned down. 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. Asked if I knew if there were any other people down in that area. Cafe 420 and Gifts of Gatlinburg were also destroyed. 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. Some of the towns most impacted were Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, both near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Championship side, who are 19th in the table, said there have been no injuries. Talk about finger pointing! The multiple chain of events you refer to is also simple, two juvenile delinquents set the fire, the park service knew it existed and they did absolutely nothing to put it out. Unfortunately, the good ole boy network, via the Sevier County DA, is trying to keep things in secret by cutting off all information after the the two teens were arrested, claiming such information could jeopordize the case against the teens. Unfortunately, Im not optimistic about the inter-agency review. It upset a lot of locals, but many lauded it. The Spur between Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg is open from Pigeon Forge to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center. Experience by itself often lends to complacency and been there done that thinking. In all the Disasters I have worked in Texas, FEMA reimburse City or County for debris pickup. Remember GSMNP is not Yosemite or Yellowstone with extreme fire behavior and a history of problems. View all posts by Bill Gabbert. Yes government at all levels needs to be held accountable; otherwise we regress back into the Dark Ages. Wildfire Today covered engines being shipped from CA. I am here at the opportunity on a couple of occasions to speak to the Fire Chief of Ontario Michigan. 865-637-2442. But all sitting back and doing nothing to help. I felt like people had been robbed of the vital information they needed to make the decisions they needed to be safe. There is simply too much BS. Too often the only voice that is heard in our society is money and the more one has the more they are heard. Jim Renfro, the air quality specialist for GRSM, said the strongest wind gust recorded at Cove Mountain was 87 mph at 9 p.m. on Monday. To successfully allow a fire to burn for a long period of time requires VERY skilled personnel and luck. Thank all of you. When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we ran into the Sevier County Electric crew where the road was blocked. I told him I would call fire department in Gatlinburg across from Food City. Mike I appreciate what you said about a time and season for prescribed/monitored fire, and we need prescribed fire in the toolbox. But it is very important to point out that the fire that burned into Gatlinburg was never a prescribed fire. 100-acre brush fire causes evacuations in Collier County Here again, more of a horse and pony show from all officials both state and federal. The coordination and communication of the Incident Management teams is impressive. Being an avid mountain hiker, I had seen evidence of fires from decades ago (Graveyard Fields being a macro example, but most prior fires in the forest were just like the ones this fall floor duff and fallen dead wood). Yes, there had been many fires in the southeast during the 6 to 8 weeks before the fire started in Great Smoky Mountains NP, but it is my understanding that at that time they had diminished and there may have been significant firefighting resources available. GATLINBURG, Tenn. UPDATE (Monday): Firefighters discovered a body in the rubble of these fires, our ABC affiliate WATE reported Monday morning. That is when I said to myself Where the hell is TEMA?. Whomever is in charge locally for the NPS should also be summarily fired. Yes, there is backside-covering going on. It was hard to drive because of falling leaves, branches, smoke, wind, and nerves. I was nervous about it. The Gatlinburg Space Needle fire (July 1992) In 1992, a fire destroyed Ripley's Gatlinburg Museum which was, at the time, located at the base of the needle. Instead 14 people are dead, many are injured, 2000 structures burned, loss is now a pandemic. At 2 a.m. Monday the wind speeds recorded at Indian Grave began increasing and the direction became more consistently out of the south and southwest. Be sure to bring valid forms of identification showing name and address of residence or business inside Gatlinburg. Can we allow room for others to fail forward? Frankly people should lose their jobs and fault should be placed on their shoulders. Death toll rises to 13 in Tennessee wildfires as grim search for The Tip Line is 888-653-0009. It is not just officials who have not caught up with the new climate reality, it is the general public and those in the path of fire. Rippetoe hopes the destruction isnt there much longer and all businesses lost can return. At 3:00PM I convinced my husband to call the Gatlinburg Fire Dept. Someone must have started the fire. Officials said three people were found dead from fires in the Chalet Village area, and one person was discovered dead near a motel on Highway 321. Emergency crews were on the scene for 31 hours extinguishing the fire before the emergency demolition was requested. 6 to the intersection at Reagen Drive reopened Monday afternoon after being closed Sunday morning, according to a release. You cannot sit and watch a fire in the mountains this close to a town and not call in lots of HELP!!! 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. I am not one to Monday Morning Quarterback, because none of us have all the information and really we all have limited information, no one person knows it all; but as a citizen with background knowledge, experience, training, risk and situational awareness, the potential was clearly predictable days in advance of the aggressive action. Gatlinburg is in Sevier County. Brought mine in from Texas. Are city and county officials learning to use the expensive Motorola radio system that would have allowed various agencies to communicate when cell service went down? Fire Summary. Much needed rainfall is expected on Monday with additional rainfall possible through Wednesday. Good point, Ms. Horton. This fire burned for almost a week, before it exploded into Gatlinburg. I have seen local hiking pictures that appear to show two separate smoke columns on Saturday 11/26. When we reached our car at road level, we saw flames coming over the ridge directly south of our house. Alice Hagler was reported missing by her family and later confirmed dead. The helicopter worked until it had to refuel and then two other Type 1 helicopters took its placeuntil dark. How Gatlinburg attempted to notify its residents to evacuate as the fire burned into the city, http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/tennessee/2016/12/13/timeline-gatlinburg-wildfires/95138656/, http://www.southernfireexchange.org/etc/ITPFISE.pdf, Long bushfire season wears down firefighters in Queensland and Western Australia, Community near Heppner, Oregon first in Morrow County to earn Firewise designation, County Cork fire brigades work through the night on gorse fires, Renewed call for the Holy Grail of firefighter tracking, Hiker owes $300,000 for Arizona wildfire he started. Would the apparent 24 hour plus monitoring bring into question a lack of response to suppress the fire considering the exceptional drought and excessive fuels? That and your wish to pay 50% income tax and there will never be a fire again! Will we fail forward? Considering the record of wind gusts between 5-6pm and that the fire had jumped US 441, NPS calling Gburg Fire Dept. I learned so much from the Incident Management Team websites for the various big fires in the mountains (Cohuttas, Joyce Kilmer, Standing Indian, Boteler, Tellico, Party Rock, Pinnacle Mountain). Ms.Schroer said she was not aware of any actual on-the-ground fire suppression efforts, other than perhaps some work on a distant indirect fireline, until Monday November 28, after the fire had grown large and crossed US Highway 141, the main road into the park. By the way, the drainage to the northwest, where NPS had placed their line, is .2 mile and ~1,000 feet vertical (77% grade) of mostly weathered rock. The whole thing is unconscionable to me. All without the but why reflection, cause and effect analysis, drill down technique and the inter-relationship effect.

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