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The main road out of Gatlinburg is the Spur, which is the 5 mile stretch of Park Service Road that lies between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Well said, the terrain here is different than a lot of places, even out west. The successes, and the losses, the poor decisions, the mistakes, the error and the failures. Gatlinburg Fire Department crews responded to the scene and received help from Pigeon Forge Fire Department, Pigeon Forge Police Department, Sevierville Fire Department, Pittman Center Volunteer Fire Department, Sevier County Emergency Management Agency, Sevier County Medical Examiners Office and Sevier County Ambulance Services. Late Monday afternoon the Gatlinburg Fire Department began informing some residents of a voluntary evacuation. It caused a shutdown . Most of the people that own property down there like me live elsewhere in the real world were things cannot be as easily shoved under the rug like they are down there. Officials keep repeating that nothing like this has ever happened here before so they cant be responsible. There was two contributing factors to this disaster. Fire erupts on both side of Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tenn., Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. Its community and people that have jobs. Situational awareness to current and predicted variables, as well as the potential of possibility is key. Gatlinburg fire burns downtown NPS can suppress the first fire; but not the second fire? According to Ms.Schroer, firefighters walked up the Chimney Tops Trail to the top of the hill to size it up. It is very hard and slow to navigate through laurel stands and the thick Tennesee Barbed Wire Briar patches. Many, if not most, of these incidents leave the confines of the managing agency and sweep out onto lands owned or managed by others who had NO input into the original incident management strategy. Updated: Dec. 25, 2022 at 6:15 PM PST. Civilians are dead, millions of dollars of personal property destroyed, millions of dollars were spent on containing the wildfirethe rains/snow finally suppressed it. Needless to say one tanker run can drop more water than two helicopters can do in a full day. Obviously spent no time in the military so they didnt know how to field dress A cigarette and pack it out. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The fire could have been accidental, or it may have been intentional. Most of those resources were involved in those ongoing fires and unavailable for immediate response to a small fire, when it was still small. Just like the Mayor of Amity in Jaws, they didnt want the tourists to see this much reality. I began to notice people smoking while driving their vehicles when I would be out and about and they would flick burning embers out windows and sometimes throw cigarettes out windows. This is as far as this subject needs to go; for the objective of this site is in regard to wildfire. But when it's close to home, the sadness and concern of those affected is ten-fold in the worry department. Wildland firefighters typically request Spot Weather Forecasts from the NWS for wildland fires or other events that can be greatly influenced by weather. 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. 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.