Remembering Gatlinburg Fires

Hard to believe, but today marks seven years since wildfires ravaged Gatlinburg and other parts of Sevier County. The fire had originally started in the Chimney Tops area and had been confined to the national park, but heavy winds on November 28, 2016 fanned those flames and sent sparks and embers flying through the air and starting numerous fires around Gatlinburg. The heaviest hit area was the Wiley Oakley area of Gatlinburg where numerous homes were destroyed. Several businesses in the Gatlinburg area also caught fire and burned including the popular Alamo Restaurant on the East Parkway. Fourteen people in all perished in the wildfires seven years ago tonight.

Seven years later, a lawsuit is still making its way through the legal system. Survivors of the victims say that the National Park Service failed to notify the public in a timely manner about the fire, leaving residents little time to escape. The lawsuit was paused for a while when a federal judge in Greeneville tossed the lawsuit on a legal technicality. However, a federal appeals judge in Cincinnati overturned that ruling and the lawsuit was allowed to proceed.

A monument to the victim’s of the Gatlinburg fire now stands in Mynatt Park, which is one of the areas that was first impacted by those fires seven years ago today on November 28, 2016.