LOL, see what I did there? You were a worthy opponent during the World Series. When you come I will buy you some tix if you want to go.


On a more somber  note--   Now 11 confirmed dead.

As for the big companies taking over even more... I fear the same will happen. They have already been practically cutting off mountain tops to build on. Sad since my area that I grew up was literally destroyed by strip mines and then right when they started to recover the natural gas companies came in and destroyed it again. The smokies were lucky that the land companies didn't get in there and destroy everything to get the minerals.

Darwin seems to be asleep at the wheel concerning this couple.  

Devon couple sleeps as G'burg is evacuated.

“The wind really began to blow and soon the fire spread along and down the mountain”, said Mr Hughes.
Staff rang their room and told them the hotel was being evacuated but Mr Hughes said he was unable to drive as he had been drinking.

He said he was told transport would be arranged, but when they did not get another call they assumed the evacuation was off.
The next morning they found the town deserted apart from the emergency services.

I spent a weekend just outside of Gatlinburg in October at the Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. Really liked the condos there and it was close to hiking in GSMNP. I plan on returning next October. I would imagine they will have cleaned up all of the rubble by then but some of those neighborhoods won't be the same for many decades. I really love that area in the fall, especially getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway and driving out to Asheville.

Well, still don't know if the family Condo is reduced to ashes or not. But I did see on the news that the road leading to it was toast. 

Perhaps they've reformed, but... 5 years and $500 million later, the Red Cross' promise of 10,000 homes in Haiti comes up 9,994 short

There was another scandal about using Superstorm Sandy as a fundraising backdrop instead of providing any useful services.  Driving empty delivery trucks back and forth around damaged areas, showing off food for the cameras and then trashing it because they hadn't bothered to coordinate delivery with anybody, tying up relief vehicles at photo ops while failing to assist shelters.  They need to get their shit together.

I believe this is a fake news site. It's rgistered through godaddy and is less than 6 months old.

Criminal organization, shame too they were founded with good intentions.

Up here at the rescue squad waiting to work. About 25 to 30 people here. A bunch of truck trailers. Everybody's kind of waiting around it looks like.

Donate here Dolly

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Ok for you guys coming up tomorrow, there's a need for luggage, used or otherwise. They don't have anything to carry their stuff in

Okay.  Today is a "shopping" day.  I'll hit up Goodwill and similar to try to get the most bang for the buck.

Thanks man.

Death toll up to 13.

Damn.

A few things, I am thankful no first responders were injured fighting these fires. I would like to hear some of the stories from the brass and the firefighters on the ground.  

When did they know they were fighting a losing battle? Did they hesitate calling in more support? Was there any extra support to call in? Was there weather causing problems using air support to fight fire?
Was there any thoughts of evacuating the city earlier? Who's decision was it?

These are questions for an AAR and now might not be the best time.  

The criminal investigation continues and any update on that other than the $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
This might terrorist related will the DHS, FBI, or other federal agencies get involved?

What was the website for volunteers to help out? Anyone catch it?

Anyone driving through Southern Indiana on I-65 to go help?  If so I have a few pieces I can add to the cause.

WBIR addressing rumors right now if supplies being taken out of area and false.

They'll need more than 10k to get someone to turn if they know something.

Happ & Jimenez should be there next season. Already bought my season tickets for 17.

Took long enough for the Jug eared Joker to make contact. 

Golfing is more important to that asshole

Gotta get a few more holes in while he can

Long story short.

The wind was howling on Monday and kept getting stronger into the night. Gusts of up to near 90 miles an hour from what was measured. Basically, hurricane force winds. The forecast had predicted up to around 40-60 MPH winds for the day, which was certainly bad enough.

There were existing fires already near the area and once the wind kicked in, it just blew embers/sparks/etc. all around into ares that were already a tinder box. There has been no appreciable rainfall in this area since the summer.

IMHO, no amount of fire supression equipment could have been used or would have helped. Most of the roads in these developements are steep, winding and narrow preventing the larger fire trucks. Also, most of these areas have no fire hydrants, so all water has to be tanked in. The winds would have prevented any air support.

Now the big question, could the evacuation been called earlier. Again, IMHO, yes it could have and should have and I am not saying that as a Monday morning quarterback. The forecasted winds of up to 60 MPH would have more than likely had the same effect. Not to mention falling trees, etc. What one has to remember that this area is driven by tourism and it's my opinion that is what kept the authorities from calling an earlier evacuation. In my mind, what was *forecast* was more than bad enough but what actually occurred was even worse. Evacuating tourists is bad for business, and costs the local economy.

My thoughts on this are also based on the fact I live near the park and frequent it often and have for 50+ years.

I grew up in East TN myself and still think of it as home, always will.  Sorry for the Mayor(s) but Monday morning QBing is how we prevent these things in the future. I would never ever, having not been in the "war" room at the time, blame anyone for their decision to evacuate the town or not. 80mph winds are going to do things to a fire no one has ever seen. I am very familiar with the roads in the area and will be surprised if the death toll is not double its current level

My take aways are:
Wind sooner than forecasted and much higher.
Information is hard to get up in a Mountain cabin, even harder when power, is out.
Cell service is spotty at best in the Mountains and can not be counted on.
Firefighters stand little chance of fighting fires in this kind of impossible terrain and weather.
You are always responsible for your own safety, but them most people on this site know that.

From Brittany Bade from WBIR Channel 10's twitter page

Thrift store back packs, bags, small luggage.

Rumor on the ground here as well, said it happened yesterday. People in charge are really paranoid, to the point of creating a small bureaucracy.  Stuff is getting backed up.

You bring some very good points.

But part of the reason I think the evac should have taken place earlier are due to some of the things you bring up.

1. Communication in and around that area is difficult at best.
2. Yes, the winds were greater than forecast, but what was forecast was already bad enough.
3. You are right that fighting the fire is difficult at best, about all you can do is to get the hell out of its way.
4. Even though everyone is responsible for themselves, unfortunately not all get that, you have to tell them to get out.

I am sure in the end a big recap will be done as it should be, given certain weather conditions this could happen again.

Sounds like you did well I heard of no injuries with any of the fire crews or park visitors.

I will be in the area around Christmas and will do my best to spend a few dollars in the area to help the people and business.
Buy you breakfast at Pancake pantry if you are still in the area!

I hate DU as much as the next guy but I've gotta agree with them.  I just don't see how it is a "miracle" that a concrete statue survived the fire along with every other concrete foundation in the area. 

Has Obama said anything or been in touch with any officials yet?

Yes
Link

I remember there was a father looking for his wife and 2 daughters. Did he find them alive?

Not yet. 

That pretty much says it...I could say more as well but shouldn't.

I think it just depends on the perspective of the viewer.  To a Christian, we'd view it as more symbolic than miraculous...reminding us that through tragedy that Christ is still with us.  To a non-Christian it would be a matter of coincidence or even irony that it happened to still be standing upright, just like the Smokey the Bear sign on a tree a few pictures above.   Similar to other tragedies like 9/11, where some of the wreckage seemed to take on the cruciform shape in some of the pictures, etc.

To me, if it brings a person hope in a time of tragedy, it can be very powerful, and certainly doesn't have any negative consequences.

Arfcom Express.

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Thanks for the link.

I was able to make a small donation, wish it could have been more. I'm paying off around 20K in cancer bills so I have not been making any of the donations i would normally do, even to the animal shelter.  But I had to give something to Dolly's Foundation.  I've been up in that area many times and I am just heartbroken over the destruction.  Besides, these are my people too.  Hillbillies have to stick together.  

I also posted the link on my Facebook page.

http://www.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=8c18c70f55ac4f81b683454fc7573d76

They are starting to update the map with destroyed and damaged structures.

Just got back from the Rescue Squad trying to do something to help the community out.  Hooked up with Reb and we worked together variously throughout the day.  

I can say this, the donations are pouring in so much that we don't know what to do with them, really.  They will help out down the road when everyone else moves on with their lives, but for now, they had to be offloaded, sorted, boxed, and made ready to distribute.  Lots of volunteers.  At first, it was sort of a cluster, because nobody really had any coordination.  By the end of the day, things were running like a smooth machine.  I somehow got roped into sorting maxi pads for about 2hrs, lol.

Now that I've experienced this, I can now see why the physical donations can be troublesome.  We got donations of curtains, some half-empty perfume bottles and lotions, an old lamp from the 70's, etc.  Seeing these things, nobody complained or scoffed at it, just laughed and each time we came across something quirky, we said "at least they gave."

We ran into some bureaucracy.  We had told the coordinators we had a truck, and everybody said "great! let's fill it up and get this stuff out to some people."  We went to a hotel and met a wonderful lady who, at the start of the day was cheerful, but by the end was worn out.  Hotel was Courtyard in Pigeon Forge, btw.  By the time we got back, and in the middle of a reload, we had one person who stopped us and said authorization would be needed, we couldn't take stuff out, people had to come in to get it.

1.  Many people had lost everything, including their cars.  How were they supposed to get there?
2.  It would create an unnecessary traffic problem at a place where rescue work was still actively being conducted.

So the stuff sat in my truck until the evening.  Finally, the real head coordinator came looking for us, got it all straightened out, and asked us to come back in the morning to start distribution.  I'm not sure where all this will go, but hopefully they will find homes for this stuff.  We were in a small center, and the place was filled with everything from toys to food.  We probably had enough to supply 5,000 people with hygiene.  We weren't even the main place.  All I can say is, there better not be a dirty mouth in Sevier County, TN, lol.  

Met some wonderful people.  Lady at the hotel grew up in the Sevierville orphanage, was deeply rooted to this place.  Met a man who's son and daughter committed suicide at different times, and he wanted to pay the rescue squad back because they had been the ones to search for her and eventually find her in a forest.  4 companies from as far away as South Carolina came up to donate their personnel to help.  They were invaluable.

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Can't  wait to see more pics how AFRCOM is helping people out down there. Great job!!!

Heard the other morning that 11 have perished.

Prayers to all involved.

I wish I could be up there helping.  You guys take care.