Fourth death confirmed in Gatlinburg-area wildfires

No one has been killed because of the fires and officials say there were able to rescue almost 30 back-country hikers that were in the mountains surrounding the city.

“We were told that they would be busing people here, and I have been here since last night waiting”, he told the News-Sentinel.

Powerful tornadoes swept through parts of Alabama and Tennessee on Tuesday, leaving dozens injured – including three young children.

“She wanted family to have a place to spend time together”, Green said. They are asking for prayers that their parents, Jon and Janet, are found.

Officials say the death toll could rise. Three adult brothers were there with their parents.

“It’s a devastating time for us, and for Gatlinburg”, Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said.

Schools in Sevier County will be back open Thursday except for Pi Beta Phi Elementary and Gatlinburg Pittman High School. The mayor says authorities are going door-to-door to make sure everyone is safe.

In a statement, Parton said she was heartbroken about the fire damage and had been “praying for all the families affected”.

There are still many structural fires in the evacuated city, and various reports of at least two people still missing. The Red Cross said about 1,100 people remained in emergency shelters.

The deceased victims have not yet been identified.

Gatlinburg’s mayor said the city will rebuild, and its fire chief said this likely will go down in the history books.

Most of those fires had been contained by Wednesday afternoon, but uncertainty remained for a region that serves as the gateway into the Great Smoky Mountains, the country’s most visited national park. Additional rounds of rain will occur into Wednesday, which should help emergency crews to combat the fire. But by then, he wasn’t allowed to head back towards the blaze.

The Pinnacle Mountain Fire received more than an inch of rain overnight, and more is expected today.

State Highway 441 into Gatlinburg remained closed, and more than 14,000 residents and tourists were evacuated. Downed power lines and fallen trees sparked several smaller fires, local media reported.

Additionally, 11,600 people in Sevier County, Tenn., had lost electrical power, and 17 had been injured. A 16-story hotel was among the structures damaged.

Officials in the Gatlinburg area were anxious about mudslides, rock slides and high winds knocking trees onto power lines, perhaps creating new fires similar to the deadly ones that sparked Monday night.

Firefighters will be aided on Wednesday by rain.

“The rain is going to help with the suppression of some of the active fires”.

In the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, a Tennessee tourist mecca emerged from the smoke, charred and vacant after a swift-moving wildfire.

More than 2,000 people spent Monday night in shelters in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Hotel fire alarms eerily echoed through empty streets lined with burned out cars Tuesday evening.

Three people were killed.

More than 200 fire departments from across Tennessee were on the ground in Sevier County by Tuesday night, helping to extinguish at least eight new fires. Those destinations include the Dollywood theme park and resort, which was evacuated but was not damaged, Dolly Parton confirmed Tuesday.

In Gatlinburg, officials said no one is allowed into the city at this time and anyone now in the popular tourist destination is urged to leave immediately.