Animals at Ripley’s Aquarium are OK after wildfires

Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said fires have affected roughly half of his city’s 10 square miles and damaged more than 100 structure. Three people have died and at least 14 were injured.

Firefighters were still battling hotspots and a few structural fires, and officials were keeping an eye on strong winds forecast for Tuesday night.

Strong winds Monday night into Tuesday morning out of the south and southeast have pushed smoke from wildfires in Gatlinburg, TN into the Miami Valley.

More than a hundred structures, including several homes, have either been damaged or destroyed. Four people have minor burns but are expected to be okay.

Smoke surrounds a home as seen from aboard a National Guard helicopter near Gatlinburg, Tenn., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. And Mother Nature provided a little relief as the winds calmed and rain fell in some areas.

“I’ve gotten calls from the governor of every surrounding state saying, ‘How can we help?’ I just got off the phone with President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Pence expressing their sorrow about what is happening and pledging to help in any way they can”. Wind picked embers up from the smaller fires and spread them further through the park and into nearby towns, burning through 500 acres and reaching homes, hotels and even Dollywood quickly overnight.

The property had not suffered any damage as of late Monday night and its crew was working to protect the park areas, Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens said.

14,000 people have been evacuated and hundreds of buildings are destroyed. “That is nowhere to be when trying to fight a fire”, Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said at a news conference Tuesday.

Authorities said these are the worst fires Tennessee has seen in at least 100 years. A fourth person is being treated for facial burns in Knoxville.

Three people were killed in raging wildfires in Sevier County, Tennessee, and officials are bracing for the possibility of more blazes overnight.

“The destruction caused by the wildfires in east Tennessee is tragic”, Haslam said.

Three people have been reported dead in the wildfires that are tearing through Sevier County, Tennessee. They were instead evacuated to LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, where Reed has been anxiously awaiting the sight of his family. An aquarium housing thousands of animals is also reportedly threatened.

But Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies posted a hopeful update Tuesday afternoon: All its animals are safe.

TEMA officials later said they received on the ground reports Monday night and Tuesday morning that the resort had been destroyed.

“The single greatest concern would be the wind”, Miller said.

One major attraction, the Ober Gatlinburg ski area and amusement park that overlooks the city, appeared to be spared.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) declared a state of emergency for drought and wildfire threats on November 10, and the park issued a ban on campfires and open grills on November 15 because of dry conditions and fires in the region.