- November 30, 2016
- No Comment
- 192
State of Emergency Declared in Sevier County due to Heavy Series of Fire
At least 3 people have been died and thousands evacuated from their homes after a wave of wildfire atrophied the affected community of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Gatlinburg. The emergency management agency of the state issued a statement that more than 14 thousand people have been evacuated from the city on 28th November 2016. The mayor of city, Mike Werner said in a press conference on 29th November that more than 50 percent and 10 square miles including at least 100 structures have been affected badly. He added that 14 people were injured due to massive fire and the park has been closed until further notice. The authorities didn’t mention the causes for rapidly spread fire in their press conference.
The local fire Chief Greg Miller cursed to the rapid spread fire and said that it was due to heavy winds exceeding 88 miles per hour. He added that those heavy winds were throwing down trees and those trees dropped on power lines. Those trees were fallen down in extremely dry condition and everything was supporting to spread fire. He said that heavy winds gradually dropped at about 15 miles per hour. The authorities declared a state of emergency on 11th November 2016 in Gatlinburg and Sevier County due to another series of fires. Just after three days of emergency declaration, the Governor Bill Haslam had imposed a ban on open-air fires and campfires in 51 counties. He added that the imposed ban will be affected till 15 December 2016. Point to be noted that fires have been increased to 67 points.