Above: A November 29 infrared image of an area within the Chimney Tops 2 Fire in Seivier County, Tennessee. The white areas represent heat, areas that either ARE burning or they previously burned and retained some of the heat. For example, a concrete slab, ashes, and bricks would stay hot for hours after most of the fire burned out or was extinguished. The larger white rectangular objects are most likely burned structures.
On Wednesday afternoon officials confirmed that 700 structures burned in the Chimney Tops 2 Fire in Tennessee. Of that total, 300 were in Gatlinburg and 400 were in other parts of Sevier County.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported Wednesday that the death count in the fire has risen to seven and the number of injuries has increased to 45.
A mandatory evacuation is still in effect for most of the City of Gatlinburg.
Fire suppression resources assigned to the fire include 9 hand crews, 22 engines, 7 helicopters, 4 dozers — for a total of 285 personnel.
As predicted, another round of rain assisted firefighters on Wednesday, dropping between 1.28 and 1.76 inches at four weather stations in the Gatlinburg area during the 24 hours ending at 11:50 p.m. EST.
Precipitation recorded at four weather stations in the Gatlinburg area during the 24-hour period ending at 11:50 p.m. EST November 30, 2016. Click to enlarge.
Briefing map of the Chimney Tops 2 Fire. Prepared by Great Smoky Mountains National Park November 29, 2016 for the November 30 day shift. The green text was added by Wildfire Today. Click to enlarge.
As far as we know this is the first publicly available map of the Chimney Tops 2 Fire that burned from Great Smoky Mountains National Park into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The incident management team reports it has burned 15,653 acres.
We are not aware of an official estimate of the number of structures destroyed in the fire since Tuesday morning’s report from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) of approximately 100 homes in Sevier County Tennessee having been either damaged or destroyed.
WBIR has a list of areas affected by the fire with brief descriptions of the damage. From that information it appears that the number of structures destroyed will be much larger than the early estimate.
On Wednesday a Type 1 Incident Management Team run by Mike Dueitt assumed command of the Chimney Tops 2 Fire. Teams like this are made up of federal and state interagency team members from across the country who collaboratively manage wildland fires and other natural disasters.
The evacuation of Pigeon Forge has been lifted but is still in effect for Gatlinburg.
Firefighters will be aided on Wednesday by rain. The NWS predicts a 73 to 100 percent chance of precipitation into the evening with accumulations of about a third of an inch.
Those are words spoken by a resident trying to escape from the fire in the Chalet Village area near Gatlinburg, Tennessee as he drove down a road with fire on both sides.
Above: The amount of rain expected during the 6 hour period ending at 1 p.m. ET November 30.
Wildfires that have been burning for weeks in the Southeast within 200 miles of where the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina come together have been plaguing residents for weeks. Smoke created by the blazes at times has been covering large portions of the South.
A drought lasting many months, and at least some cases of arson, are what led to the necessity for about 4,000 firefighters to be deployed to put out the dozens of large fires burning at the same time.
But that is about to change.
Beginning Monday night, November 28, rain in this area will slow the spread of the fires for many days at least. Some fires, but probably not all, may be put out by the time the rain ends Wednesday night. Gatlinburg, where two fires in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Monday are causing evacuations, should receive more than 2 inches between Monday night and Wednesday night.
These three maps, that are just for six-hour periods, indicate the significant precipitation expected for the next two days.
The forecast for precipitation during the 6 hours ending at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday November 29 2016.
*
*
*
The forecast for precipitation during the 6 hours ending at 7 a.m. ET Wednesday November 30 2016.
Sevier County officials reported that there have been three fatalities related to the fires in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area. Sevier County includes Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At least 14 people have been injured.
Three individuals with severe burns were transferred from the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville (UTK) Hospital to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville Monday night. A fourth person with burns to their face continues to be evaluated at UTK.
Pigeon Forge officials estimate 500 people were evacuated on Monday night. Approximately 125 people remain displaced and in local shelters in Pigeon Forge. About 14,000 residents and visitors evacuated from Gatlinburg.
The National Park service estimates that a total of 15,000 acres have burned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and in the areas in and around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. On Wednesday the NPS will transfer command of the fires within the park to a Type 1 Incident Management Team run by Mike Dueitt. Teams like this are made up of federal and state interagency team members from across the country who collaboratively manage wildland fires and other natural disasters.
Map of the Gatlinburg, TN area, November 29, 2016.
Eventually we hope to obtain a map, much better than the one above, of the fires in the Gatlinburg area. Check back later. (UPDATE: we posted a much better map on November 30.)
We do not yet have complete information about how many fires are burning, where they are, the causes, and where all of the fire(s) started that eventually burned into the communities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
The NPS reported Tuesday morning that 80 mph winds gusts, low humidities, and drought conditions…
…caused the fire burning in the National Park to spread rapidly and unpredictably, in spite of suppression efforts on Sunday that included helicopter water drops. Wind gusts carried burning embers long distances causing new spot fires to ignite across the north-central area of the park and into Gatlinburg. In addition, high winds caused numerous trees to fall throughout the evening on Monday bringing down power lines across the area that ignited additional new fires that spread rapidly due to sustained winds of over 40 mph.
Presumably the fire within the park was the Chimney Tops 2 Fire, which started November 23 and was reported to be 10 acres Sunday evening, November 27. Apparently the NPS was not able to completely suppress the fire during that four-day period.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, in their Tuesday update, wrote:
The Chimney Top Fire, which began in the Great Smoky Mountains, spread very rapidly yesterday evening as high winds pushed flames onto private property.
They were probably referring to the Chimney Tops 2 Fire.
****
(UPDATED at 10:13 a.m. EST November 29, 2016)
About 100 homes in Seiver County Tennessee have been either damaged or destroyed in wildfires that started in or near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee. The state’s Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) which conducted a quick preliminary survey, reported at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday that about 10 of those homes were in Gatlinburg. In addition, 30 other structures in Gatlinburg have been damaged or destroyed, including a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartments near the Park Vista Hotel.
Above: Satellite photo from Sunday afternoon, November 20, showing plumes of smoke.
The amount of smoke created by wildfires in the southeastern United States decreased on Sunday. In satellite photos from last week smoke could be seen that covered large portions of South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. However as you can see in the photo below, the smoke increased on Monday.
The amount and location of the smoke varies depending on the wind direction and the fire activity. It is difficult to predict more than a day in advance the quantity and location of smoke.
Satellite photo from November 21 showing wildfire smoke. NASA
Below are maps predicting air quality information and the location of smoke for today, November 21.
Firefighters with leaf blowers on the Chestnut Knob Fire. The fire is 6 miles south of Morganton, NC and at the last report grew by 9 acres. InciWeb.
While several large fires in the southern states are still actively spreading, firefighters have made progress on dozens of others.
On Monday the Southern Geographic Area reported 52 large uncontained fires, for a total of 133,146 acres. There were 185 new fires of all sizes for 1,477 acres; most of those were suppressed while still small. That was considered “moderate” initial attack activity.
Firefighting resources assigned in the South:
78 aircraft
83 hand crews
1,011 pieces of equipment
4,476 personnel
Map showing the location of some of the large fires in the southern states. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:22 am November 21, 2016.
On Sunday evening four fires reported 24-hour growth of more than 100 acres:
Rock Mountain Fire
Map of the perimeter of the Rock Mountain Fire at 6 p.m. ET November 20, 2016.
The Rock Mountain Fire that started about 10 miles northwest of Clayton Georgia has spread north into North Carolina. At the last report it had burned 11,287 acres, an increase of 862 acres. On Sunday it was very active, moving through the hardwood leaf litter in all directions at a rate of about one mile each day. Evacuations are still in place for Dream Catcher Cove north of Tate City, Georgia.
On Saturday strong winds pushed the blaze across the Appalachian Trail on the north end of the fire. Winds blowing leaves still falling from trees are creating problems for firefighters, covering existing firelines and causing some areas to re-burn.
East Miller Cove
The East Miller Cove Fire is just east of Walland, Tennessee, 16 miles south of Knoxville. On Sunday evening the incident management team reported it had burned 1,492 acres, an increase of 1,292 acres, threatening 100 structures north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Big Branch
The Big Branch Fire is in southeast Kentucky three miles south of Roxana and five miles northeast of Cumberland. It has burned 625 acres, an increase of 175 acres.
Oakwood 1 Fire
This fire is in Arkansas, listed at 468 acres, an increase of 278. No other information is available.
A firefighter on the Chestnut Knob Fire. InciWeb.
For the latest articles at Wildfire Today about how smoke from the wildfires is affecting various locations in the South, check out the articles tagged “smoke”.
Map showing the location of the East Miller Cove Fire at 10:30 p.m. ET November 18, 2016.
The East Miller Cove Fire 16 air miles west of Gatlinburg, Tennessee spread very rapidly Friday night as a cold front passed through with winds shifting from south to west gusted at 12 to 23 MPH. However the nearby Indian Grave weather station in Great Smoky Mountains National Park recorded 0.12 inches of rain after 6 a.m. on Saturday.
When a mapping aircraft overflew the fire at 10:30 p.m. Friday the fire had burned 700 acres and was very active. Data from a heat sensing satellite at 3:04 a.m. Saturday indicated that it was more than 1,000 acres.
The East Miller Cove Fire is just east of Walland, Tennessee, five miles north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and 16 air miles south of Knoxville.
On Friday hundreds of students at the Walland elementary school were ordered to evacuate.
At least one Blackhawk helicopter from the Tennessee National Guard assisted firefighters on the ground by dropping water.
The area is under a Red Flag Warning on Saturday for strong winds and low humidities. The forecast calls for temperatures on Saturday in the high 40s, 45 percent relative humidity, 60 percent cloud cover, 15 mph west to northwest winds gusting at 23 mph, and the probability of rain decreasing to 4 percent by 1 p.m. Sunday should be cooler, drier, and with 8 mph winds out of the northwest.
Many locations in the South have had very little rain over the last two months, leaving the live and dead vegetation very dry. Below is an excerpt from a Saturday morning article at Knoxnews:
…Nothing in the weekend weather looks as if it will be much help to firefighters, according to regional safety officer James Gregory, who is also up from Florida to help fight the Tennessee wildfires. He is a Maryville native who knows east Tennessee parks and wilderness well.
“The ground cover, the layer of twigs and branches and grass and vegetation that normally helps keep trees upright during a fire, is so dry and brittle, it can’t hold the trees in place so they fall over,” Gregory explained. “When a burning tree falls over, of course that spreads the flames. Even live trees that aren’t on fire fall over because the drought has dried out the forest so much.”
The article also said the rain “had almost no impact” on the fires in east Tennessee.
Above: Forecast for wildfire smoke at 6 p.m. ET November 18, 2016. Created at 1 a.m. ET November 18, 2016.
Most of the eastern one-third of the United States will be experiencing some degree of wildfire smoke on Friday. But by far the heaviest concentrations are being created by the wildfires in the South. The winds on Friday will cause the much of the smoke to pass through areas in western Tennessee, northern Georgia, and western North Carolina.
Forecast for wildfire smoke at 1 p.m. ET November 18, 2016, created at 6:30 a.m. ET November 18, 2016.
Above: The map shows the locations of some of the larger wildfires currently burning in Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Firefighters continue to battle dozens of fires in the southern United States while the residents in the area try to figure out how to live with the smoke.
Fire managers are hoping for a break in the weeks-long dry period, but through Friday at least they should expect more of the same. However there is a chance for rain on Saturday.
Here we will look at six of the larger fires in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Party Rock Fire
Perimeter of the Party Rock Fire in North Carolina, 3 a.m. ET November 16, 2016.
The Party Rock Fire has been burning just north of Lake Lure, North Carolina since November 5. It has blackened 4,480 acres, an increase of 736 acres, and forced evacuations at Bat Cave and residences on the east side of Hwy 9. In recent days it has been most active on the north and southwest sides.
Rock Mountain Fire
Perimeters of the Boteler Fire in NC at 11:45 p.m. ET November 15, 2016, and the Rock Mountain Fire in GA at 2 a.m. ET November 16, 2016.
The Rock Mountain Fire has burned 6,747 acres in the northeast corner of Georgia, an increase of 1,263 acres over the previous 24 hours primarily on the northeast and west sides. The Type 1 Incident Management Team reports that 75 structures are threatened, but none have been destroyed.
