Death Toll in Tennessee Wildfires Rises to 13

The death toll rose to 13 on Friday as officials in Tennessee continue to investigate the cause of the massive wildfires that have destroyed homes and businesses in Gatlinburg and surrounding areas where over 5,000 people are still without power. “We will have to give each other a lot of love and support and rely deeply on the peace and power of God”. Officials said at a news conference that she was vacationing in Gatlinburg, but an obituary posted online said she was from the area.

“Whether it was purposefully set or whether it was a careless act that was not meant to cause a fire, that we don’t know”, Clayton said. “We have to come to the realization that the potential is great it will be more of a recovery (of corpses) than a rescue”.

At least seven people are confirmed dead in the fire and thousands have lost everything just a month before Christmas.

Firefighters and other responders have done preliminary searches in about 90% of the burned areas, Waters said.

Twelve of the deaths were fire-related, while one person suffered a heart attack while trying to escape the blaze, The Tennessean newspaper reports.

Authorities searching the charred remains of homes and businesses said they expected to finish Friday.

Over 1,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in Sevier County. Homeowners and tenants were told to provide proof of residency in order to enter the city, which has remained barricaded by police since the city’s 14,000 residents began to flee Monday evening.

Ogle said they hoped to have the main thoroughfares of Parkway and River roads open to the public by Monday, with side streets to follow. “We did the best we could with what we had, and we’re sorry”. They were found in Gatlinburg’s Chalet Village cabin rental area.

A telethon for the American Red Cross of East Tennessee’s relief efforts raised more than $120,000 by Thursday afternoon.

Almost 24 hours of rain on Wednesday helped dampen the wildfires, but fire officials struck a cautious tone, saying people shouldn’t have a false sense of security because months of drought have left the ground bone-dry and wildfires can rekindle.

“The city is not implying that private property is safe”, she said.

Family friends said the three brothers: Branson, Wesley, and Jared, were hospitalized after they were injured in the fire. The park was spared any significant damage and will reopen Friday. Investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers to determine the origin of the fire, which started last week in the remote Chimney Tops Trail area of the park, and whether someone set it intentionally.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener told NBC News that the National Weather Service did issue an alert on behalf of the county to evacuate the town of Gatlinburg at around 9:04 p.m. ET.

The realization came as she made the familiar drive up to the top of Laurel Mountain in the Roaring Fork neighborhood of Gatlinburg on Friday, where what lay ahead was anything but familiar. About 15,000 people were displaced by the fire earlier this week.

“Just like me, just like them and just like you, we’ve never seen anything like this before”, he said. “It was like we were in hell”, said Linda Monholland, who was working at Park View Inn in Gatlinburg when she and five other people fled on foot. First responders have also been struggling with small mudslides and rock slides as the lush foliage that once held the ground in place had burned away. Eleven people died as a result of the fire, which authorities believe may have been caused by a person.