• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Hoping all of our TN Members are safe and sound

4x4dreamer

PM 2023
SM 2018
SM 2017
PM 2013
SM 2008
Full Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
2,731
Location
Richwood, WV
With the widespread wild fires over the last month (and especially those in Gatlinburg this week), and the extreme drought, I hope that all of our TN members are okay.

I am not sure who we have living in the immediate Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Area, but I have you and your families in my thoughts and prayers!

The smokies are a home away from home for myself and my fiance?. We are down there at least a few times a year.

I am absolutely heartbroken over all of this  :cry:
 
Same here I can not believe such a nice area is burning down.
 
I couldn't agree more. I sat there watching the news this morning in disbelief.

I understand there are always tragedies and disaster. That they are all devastating in their own right but this one hit hard for me personally. As Ian put it so perfect, the smokies are our home away from home. We visit there multiple times a year and have such close memories from our engagement to our daughter's first vacation to our first national g2g.

As the location to now multiple national g2gs, the smoky mountains also has a special place for this group. Between how well I've seen this av family donate to charity at nationals for Sevier county to seeing multiple fire crews and volunteers flock to Gatlinburg the last couple days from here in Nashville I feel the desire to do something, anything.....

I've reached out here locally where I live, and if I can get everything coordinated through my work, I'm hoping to load up a couple avys with as many supplies and donations as we can pack in and make a run to the smokies and assist in any way possible for a couple days. Hopefully all works out and this rain moving through our area tonight will keep on pushing through to the mountains where it's needed the most.
 
I've already paid for a cabin rental in Chalet Village Dec 17-20.  I don't know if the cabin is still there.  I haven't heard from the owners yet - they might not know either.  I did rent it through VRBO.com and have received an email from them stating to check to make sure things are good to go before going and to contact them if there are any issues with the rental.
 
Yes best wishes to all in that area. Lets hope that the Mountain Breeze Motel (the place where we held the Nationals a couple of years ago) is still there. It was a family owned and ran business for MANY years and they are great people!
 
In Knoxville we are now getting flooded.  It has now rained for nearly 14 hours straight.  the same storm is now over Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg which is hopefully going to help a lot.  There have been huge fires burning around here for weeks.  A few times code Red has been issued in Knoxville because of all the smoke particulates in the air.    Thanks to all those who prayed for rain, we are finally getting it.

 
I read that there are a couple issues with the rain. Yes it may put out the fires but since they are thunderstorms they COULD cause additional fires due to lightning.

The other issue is that there will be mudslides due to the loss of foliage in the fire to hold back the mud. Reports I have read stated half of Gatlinburg burned up but Pigeon Forge was for the most part untouched. Last count was 7 perished in the fire but there were many areas that they couldn't reach as of this afternoon.

Glad I was able to visit the area last year. GF was kidding around that we needed to go back because the camera I used lost all of the pictures due to an issue with the SDcard I used.

I have also heard mixed reports of it being started by arsonists and that it wasn't started by arsonists. The two suspects they arrested were suspected of starting fires in the area but not necessarily related to Gatlinburg.

Such a shame and I hope that none of our Avy friends lost anything through this. Or if they did hopefully they can recover as much as possible.

Reports I saw were that they were still not letting any residents back into the area as of wed afternoon.

Rodney
 
According to the fire map I found online it looks like the cabin we rented, which is pretty close to Ober Gatlinburg, should be okay, as well as the condominium we sold last year.  Both are west of the fire area.
 
marzahld said:
In Knoxville we are now getting flooded.  It has now rained for nearly 14 hours straight.   the same storm is now over Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg which is hopefully going to help a lot.  There have been huge fires burning around here for weeks.  A few times code Red has been issued in Knoxville because of all the smoke particulates in the air.    Thanks to all those who prayed for rain, we are finally getting it.

I hope everything came out okay... As far as I can see, the fires are essentially out all over now.

I guess it is time to pick up the pieces and rebuild. The death toll was up to 11 the last time I checked  :(

The first time my fiance? and I ever visited the Great Smoky Mountains, we stayed at the Westgate Resort which is just west of Gatlinburg on the Spur. 80% of the entire resort was leveled.. Such a terrible and tragic loss of life and property.  :cry:
 
I ran across this map today.

http://www.arcgis.com/apps/PublicInformation/index.html?appid=8c18c70f55ac4f81b683454fc7573d76
 
Through some of the local news I did see one Avalanche burned up. Here's a link to some pics that were shared on a member here's Facebook page. Death toll this morning was standing at 14 confirmed with at least another 50 people still missing and 134 injured. More pics here...Gatlinburg Fire Pics

15241229_10154542150616355_8297631207414413609_n.jpg
 
Wow! someone forwarded me this video.  Talk about cutting it close to get out of there.  This guy is driving out in between structure fires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGyHu4iX5-Y
 
They are lucky to be alive
 
The cabin we have rented for 3 nights in Chalet Village survived with the only damage being the front door that was rammed in by police searching for fatalities.  Water was turned on today.  Sounds like we will be heading down in about 10 days.
 
enoniam said:
The cabin we have rented for 3 nights in Chalet Village survived with the only damage being the front door that was rammed in by police searching for fatalities.  Water was turned on today.  Sounds like we will be heading down in about 10 days.

To my understanding, if you are a tourist (with little knowledge of the area) and stick to the main points in visiting, you'd barely know they suffered a fire.

To my understanding the bulk of the damage was private residences in the mountains surrounding the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

We did learn that the cabin we frequented when we went down was destroyed, along with every other cabin in Starr Crest up near Eagle Crest on the Pigeon Forge side...

So sad..

I am glad you guys still have a cabin to go to!  (y)

I am sure the damage is surreal in person..  :(
 
Yo enoniam I would not go down there unless you are willing to help out.

You're goimg down there for vacation while everyone is getting over death from family.

One of the reasons why I did not go to STI
 
They are wanting the tourists back in the worst way as that is the foundation of their local economy.  I don't think they expect everyone there to be working...
 
enoniam said:
They are wanting the tourists back in the worst way as that is the foundation of their local economy.  I don't think they expect everyone there to be working...

They Definitely want their tourists back. They have been pleading with folks to not cancel their reservations. Tourism is their bread and butter and they are not turning any of it away! 
 
They just made an announcement here in Knoxville that the Gatlinburg strip is open for business on Friday.  A lot of the fun stuff will be open such as the distilleries, smoky mtn brewery, aquarium, etc...
Some side roads will still be closed, but strip will be good to go.

They for sure want ppl back asap.

Its also about to get cold.  I'm waiting to see them open some slopes up at ober and I will be making a trip myself.  Its only an hour drive for me.
It is supposed to be getting bitter cold around here starting tonight.
 
Unbelievable 2 kids caused all the problems

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/us/gatlingburg-fire-charges/
 
I feel for those kids and their families.  We've all made mistakes, especially as kids, but few have made a mistake of this magnitude.  They will be tarnished with this the rest of their lives.

I'm not a lawyer, but I presume there will be a lot civil lawsuits filed against them, and since they are minors, wouldn't the plaintiffs be able to sue their parents?
 
enoniam said:
I feel for those kids and their families.  We've all made mistakes, especially as kids, but few have made a mistake of this magnitude.  They will be tarnished with this the rest of their lives.

I'm not a lawyer, but I presume there will be a lot civil lawsuits filed against them, and since they are minors, wouldn't the plaintiffs be able to sue their parents?

To my understanding, they were witnessed on video walking down the Chimney Tops Trail and throwing lit matches into the woods.. I hardly have any sympathy for them if that is the case. That is such a blatant disregard for anything at all.. At 15 and 17, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing.  :(
 
15 and 17 that's adult jail time from where I come from, I was thinking they were younger than that.
 
Back
Top