Sad.

We have been watching this with a sick feeling in our hearts. It truly is one of the most beautiful places in America.

I'm so sorry...but the weather looks like some rain may be coming your way....hope it's effective.

The only place I ever saw a bear in the wild. So beautiful there. So heartbreaking to see the fires. Praying for the area to be spared as much as possible.

I love the Smokies, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge areas. Breaks my heart to hear about the fire.

I'm so sorry about the fire, do they know what caused it?

Drought + arson + high winds yesterday. We've had forest fires burning for awhile now. The winds just took it farther than it's been burning.

:(

Excerpt:

Tennessee

Dozens of wildfires in eastern Tennessee have left a blanket of smoke across much of the area.

“We are smoked out here in Cleveland,” Terry McDonald, public affairs officer at the Cherokee National Forest, told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The Tennesee Emergency Management Agency declared a Level 3 State of Emergency in response to the prolonged threat of drought and wildfires across the state, according to WBIR.com.

A forest fire trapped seven firefighters west of Kingsport,
reports Fox News. All seven firefighters were later accounted for and
none were injured, according to Gary Murrell, director of the Hawkins
County Emergency Management Agency.

Nathan Waters, assistant
forester of the East Tennessee District, said the wildfires keep
cropping up, making conditions difficult for weary firefighters.

“We
have been battling fires since well before Halloween,” Waters said.
“When you have forest fires it takes a long time to get them out. It
wears out the equipment and wears out the people. We are very fortunate
compared to the Cumberland District; they have had larger issues.”

One of the largest wildfires is burning on Signal Mountain, along the Tennessee-Georgia border.

Anderson County is fighting four fires that have burned 4,230 acres,
Campbell County has seven fires that have consumed 620 acres,
Cumberland County has three fires burning 508 acres and Morgan County
has five fires burning 600 acres, WBIR.com reports.

According to
Waters, one firefighter was hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning
after working alongside other firefighters to battle a blaze in White
County near Sparta.

Sorry for all those living there. There are things that can be done to help save your house, but they must be considered well ahead of time. When looking at a new roof or siding, look at fire resistant materials like steel roof, steel siding, or hardie board siding. These items alone may save your house from wildfires, where houses around you using vinyl siding and asphalt shingles will be gone.

The fires in E TN have been burning for weeks. Last night ahead of a front the winds began gusting to 80 MPH driving the existing fires toward Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

My step daughter works for the Forestry Div. Cumberland District. Her boss has been in that area since before Thanksgiving, he's got decades of experience. On Thanksgiving during our meal my SD got called to a fire here, arson, she had it out in a couple hours. The idiots where I live go on burning outdoors, even with a complete ban. And of course we have the low-life arsonists.

The good news is that by Wed the area in question should receive 2-3 inches of rain. That will HELP contain the fires, it won't extinguish them. It is so dry the forest soil is literally burning. This area normally receives 60-80 inches of rainfall yearly, haven't seen the stats but I believe they are at less than half of average, and that after a summer that lasted way into fall with way above average temps

Last night I received 1.20 inches of rain, the first here in 38 days. I've lived here for 32 years, and I've never seen it this dry this late in the year.

I'm blaming Climate Change, but perhaps fires like this are normal every X-number of years?

Some of my early Scots immigrants settled near Grandfather Mountain before starting a generations-long trek west. I visited fifty years ago, before air pollution was thick over the mountains from the south.

It's arson chisue? Drought and high winds exacerbated it.

I just hate this. We have hiked up to Mt LeConte many, many times and other places in the park too. Just makes me sick. I heard Arrowmont might have suffered damage but then just read it might have only been to a couple of their buildings. I just hate people have lost their homes and businesses, especially due to arson or carelessness. You still see people flicking their cigarettes out of car windows. Ugh!!

We are supposed to get more rain tonight and hope you get more too.

Prayers continue for the people and animals in these areas. In our area of Georgia we got "almost" 3 inches of much needed rain during the night after 40 some days with none. The wind has been horrible.

We are praying here, my sister lives in Tn. so she's keeping us abreast, it's sooo tragic. Pray for rain.

..."perhaps fires like this are normal every X-number of years ?"

Short answer is yes.

Long answer is WAY more complicated.

Wish I knew where my friend got this. But here you go:

Horrible.

Yeah, it really brought it home to me. I too have had my picture taken while sitting on that sign, the same as loads of people, including my grandparents who went twice a year. Sad!

So sorry for everyone in the area. We once camped in the Pigeon Forge area and visited Silver Dollar City (now Dollywood). Beautiful country ... such a shame.

Praying for rain and safety for those involved.

Never been there but I'm so sad for everyone who lives there. It sounds like a gorgeous area and I just hope it can be contained and any rain helps. As for the arsonists...they should be locked up forever.

I have such wonderful memories of the area, vacations with my parents as a child, and a great week with friends from the cooking forum several years ago.

Praying for the safety of all people and animals and for massive rains to put it all out.

Fire is so scary. I feel awful for all the home and business owners and the wildlife. I hope rain comes soon.

My neighbors were there and could not even go back to their cabin to get their things! The American Eagle Sanctuary seems to be evacuated, most eagle, raptors

ok. When I think of the animals!! Sad.

And the people, of course.

I just heard about this on the radio this morning. Is this a common event in this area - I don't mean these out of control forest fires but rather forest fires in general. Parts of my province burn every summer and some summers are worse than others.

I hope everyone remains safe.

My heart goes out to those people. We watched as parts of Oklahoma burned a few years back. Some people lost everything they had and they didn't have much to begin with.

For those with memories of specific places, this is a listing of places that have been damaged or are intact. Quite a lot have been spared.

TN wild fire

Dollywood, Pigeon Forge and Cades Cove are reported to be ok. There are, sadly 3 confirmed deaths.

This is just so devastating. I hope they are able to contain it until the rains come.

I just saw a video on accuweather.com from someone evacuating that area, driving down a dark narrow road with fire on both sides.

The guys curse quite a bit in the video, but I probably would as well.

That video sent chills down my spine. They were very lucky to have gotten out of that alive.

Did the situation improve with the rain? I sure hope so for all the poor people and animals who have suffered so much.

The rain helped extinguish fires, but it's hampering search and rescue, and they worry about mudslides. I fear the death toll may rise. I hope, beyond hope, that it is an unfounded fear.

LINK

This is terrible. We had a trip through the Smoky Mountains when the first 3 children were little. We camped at the Cherokee campgrounds. Prayers for the rain to come and put out the fires.

Sue

I have a little backwards-looking fox from Pigeon Forge Pottery. Now I think of him as fleeing the fires.

We have visited the area twice & loved it! Wonderful people & countryside-both beautiful! Hurts my heart-prayers for all involved.

They've upped the death toll. We're at seven now. And missing people still. Some found alive, some not. Holding out hope

There has been heavy rain in the fire areas, heavy enough to have flash flood warnings and mud/rock slides. Most structure fires are out, but the forest will smoulder for weeks or more if there isn't consistent rain over the next couple months.

The back roads are still being cleared of trees and power lines due to winds that gusted to 87 MPH. I believe downtown Gatlinburg is still closed, although it is believed to be intact. The death toll stands at four, with at least 3 in critical condition. There are many people unaccounted for. At least 400 structures are damaged or destroyed, with only 30 percent of the burned area investigated. There is fear that bodies may be found in houses completely destroyed and hikers/campers in the woods who had no warning. Monday night was literally a hurricane driven holocaust.

Death toll is still at 7 this morning. Glad it's not higher!

Wow, that is all just too much for one area. I'm so sorry this has happened.

Death toll now up to 10. Still people missing, although no actual number mentioned. With much regret officials say now it is recovery rather than rescue.

What a shame. Hoping the death and injury toll doesn't increase. Praying for the residents of that area, and especially those KT members who might be in danger.

NBC news had a man looking for his wife and two young daughters. I keep looking for any updates on that story but haven't seen anything other than when he made it back to their house it was burned up. I feel so bad for him and pray they have/will find his family alive still.

Latest is that bodies may be unrecoverable due to the intensity of the fire. The good thing is that many missing are found to be okay, but still no count how many are missing.

Dolly Parton is heart-broken and is giving $1,000/month for a year to those who have been left homeless.

Death toll up to 13

Several is the number on missing. Here's a look at some.

This so sad . My heart goes out to all the people affected especially at this time of year.

Thank you for that link Rob... the Reed family was the one I've been trying to find out what was going on. So sad they are still missing.