Death toll from Tennessee wildfires increases to 10

Steady rains on Tuesday night and into Wednesday helped firefighters slow the blaze, but officials as of Thursday morning were still reporting zero containment around a fire zone that spanned more than 17,000 acres (6,880 hectares). His order freed up medical professionals licensed in other states to help Tennessee victims.

Gatlinburg City and Sevier County leaders have created an interactive map to show the status of individual addresses. A later post said it was not clear if the church could be reached on Sunday due to road closures predicted to last until Monday.

Though rain has fallen Wednesday, fire officials say the wildfire threat isn’t over. They did not say whether they believe anyone else is still missing or may have died.

Mayor Larry Waters of Sevier County said that 700 homes and businesses have been burned this week, the News sentinel said.

Parton said she hopes the financial assistance will help people who lost everything get back on their feet again.

“Collecting all these items and delivering them was a miracle”, Porter said.

“I’m just astonished this is my town”, she said.

It is unclear at this time how many people are missing, but Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said they are following up on 70 leads.

Miller disclosed that no reports of missing people were filed.

Beasley, who was in California when the fire began, said that he was stunned by the fire’s devastation in the historic resort town of Gatlinburg and in the rest of Sevier County.

Fires begun in valleys were spreading quickly up hillsides to vacation homes along the Ski Mountain Road on the northwest side of Gatlinburg up the mountain where the Ober Gatlinburg ski resort resides.

“We’re never going to give up hope”. Their three adult sons are in the hospital.

Alice Hagler, 70, is another one of the 10 people killed in the fires. He told her to get out but then the connection was lost – and the family didn’t learn her fate until Wednesday.

“My mother called me frantically that the house was on fire, yelling that the house was on fire, and I told her to get out of the house”, Wood told WBIR.

She added that officials are working on getting up a website that will have a list of properties damaged by the fires and that the website will be updated gradually as officials receive more information.

The fire picked its spots as it tore through the Gatlinburg area Monday: It destroyed at least 150 buildings but left others intact.

One of the homes destroyed belonged to former Memphian Carol Musik.

After the fire escaped the park, flames spread further when winds blew trees onto power lines, sparking new fires and shooting embers over long distances. She said all donations will be needed in the coming weeks and months.

The area has faced other natural and human-made disasters in recent days.

“Clean up and rebuild”.

Sarah Basel, regional communications director for the American Red Cross of Tennessee, said Wednesday afternoon that more than 10,000 meals and snacks had been served inside the shelters.

The mayor of Gatlinburg agrees.

“Gatlinburg is the people, that’s what Gatlinburg is”.

“Gatlinburg is the people. The dog didn’t want to walk so I had to pick him up and carry him and carry the fire extinguisher”.