Tennessee fire News

Tennessee Community Devastated by Fires Doubtful Climate Change Poses Future Risk

Bob Bentz had just installed underground utility lines and paved a new road when wildfires roared through the eastern Tennessee treetop canopy he wanted to transform into a $30 million adventure park. A year later, after the blaze killed 14 …

Woman Staying in Hotel During Tennessee Wildfires Claims PTSD in Lawsuit

A Tennessee woman who checked in to a hotel as deadly wildfires raged nearby says in a lawsuit that she was terrified she would die in the hotel and is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the experience. Holly …

Team Formed to Review How Wildfire Spread to Tennessee Tourist City

Authorities are forming a team to investigate the massive fires that tore through a Tennessee tourist city late last year, killing 14 people. The team will be made up of representatives from the Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the …

Residents Return to Tennessee City Demolished by Fire

Charlotte Moore needed a phone charger. “I’ll just get it at home,” she shrugged. Then she remembered that her home was gone. The realization came as she made the familiar drive up to the top of Laurel Mountain in the …

Tennessee Wildfire Death Toll Rises to 7; City of Gatlinburg Surveys Damage

Three more bodies were found in the ruins of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses in the Great Smoky Mountains area, raising the death toll to seven, a Tennessee mayor said Wednesday. Search-and-rescue missions continued, and Sevier County …

Tennessee Fire Forces Thousands to Evacuate, Destroys Hundreds of Homes

With flames dripping from tree branches and the air filled with embers, thousands of people raced through a hellish landscape as they fled wildfires that killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes and a resort in the Great Smoky …