East Coast Fires

been watching all the news and this is just horrible..

This is the Nantahala River Center. have kayaked this area and walked across this bridge many times..

we are supposed to get some rain snow this week so hopefully it pushes east

Wow! That is crazy. Are they sending any additional military aid or anything similar to help fight the fires? Seems like it is starting to be an "all hands on deck" ordeal.

How awful!!

I wondered if they have the same level of "help" set up similar to the "west" - ?  We were in north central Colorado this summer and the next town away had a several thousand acre fire and it did look  like a scene out of a movie. With multiple groups of people assisting.

Normally the area gets so much rain it might not normally be an issue?  I spent most of my life in that area and it just wasn't something I ever recall being discussed?

knight1fox3 said:

Wow! That is crazy. Are they sending any additional military aid or anything similar to help fight the fires? Seems like it is starting to be an "all hands on deck" ordeal.

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Not to my knowledge.  They are bringing in firefighters from other counties, but I guess wind and the smoke are even limiting what they can do with the helicopters.  Volunteers are doing leaf and litter blowing along certain tree lines, because I guess the litter burns hotter and is creating issues?  Most of the non-firefighter volunteers involved are doing animal transport.  A lot of animal rescue taking place at farms/rural residences, and some wildlife relocation.  Firefighters are trying to divert from homes/businesses and are working on controlled burns for containment based on what we've been hearing.  

Drought is typically not a big issue in that area.  Last year they had bigger issues with flooding!

We're supposed to get rain tonight for thie first time since the inch we got back in early September.  The fires haven't gotten too out of hand because so much perscribed burning is done around here, but the smoke seems to be staying low and sucks to be out in.

Supe said:

Not to my knowledge.  They are bringing in firefighters from other counties, but I guess wind and the smoke are even limiting what they can do with the helicopters.  Volunteers are doing leaf and litter blowing along certain tree lines, because I guess the litter burns hotter and is creating issues?  Most of the non-firefighter volunteers involved are doing animal transport.  A lot of animal rescue taking place at farms/rural residences, and some wildlife relocation.  Firefighters are trying to divert from homes/businesses and are working on controlled burns for containment based on what we've been hearing.  

Drought is typically not a big issue in that area.  Last year they had bigger issues with flooding!

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yeah if it's dead and on the ground then it's dry and def a fuel for the fire. I have heard about what's going on down south, but I haven't heard of anyone joining forces to be sent there yet.

Been following this. Very sad situation. If you are in the affected area, stay safe and follow evacuation directions. My heart is with you, I've been in that type of situation. You may worry about your home and possessions, but loss of life is devastating.

Pretty terrible.  

Passed a very smokey area in Virginia on Wednesday night.  Just a line of fire about 1/3 of the way down the mountainside with heavy smoke on the road.  Very eerie sight at night.  Gatlinburg is currently a disaster and is being evacuated.  The smoke is so thick you can't even see where you're driving from the videos I watched last night.  Sadly, all the animals in the aquarium are being left behind

Apparently parts of Gatlinburg are on fire.  I haven't been able to find any updated reports as of this morning, but last night they were saying at least 30 structures burned down, including a 16 story hotel and an apartment complex.  They were supposed to get rain last night so hopefully it's died down since then.

Man I just saw on the news that "Ober" Gatlinburg was destroyed.... even though it was a fairly old cheesy tourist trap I always thought that was a really cool part of Gatlinburg...

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Devastating Wildfire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

This video was taken in Gatlinburg, TN tonight using Facebook Live and was posted by Adam Palmeno. In the comments, someone said that these people had been rescued, but I'm not sure if that was confirmed. Does anyone else know? -Matthew

Posted by Firsthand Weather on Monday, November 28, 2016




This was from inside one of the hotels in Gatlinburg.

mudpuppy said:

This was from inside one of the hotels in Gatlinburg.

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yeah, I'm thinking that it's probably time to evacuate from there. Once the hotel starts burning they are gonna be in some serious trouble. Smoke inhalation is no joke.  you can fix burns to your skin, not your lungs

They had high winds (80+ mph gusts) and no rain last night, which has caused additional hot spots to break out.  All of the roads in that county around Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, etc. are now closed to anyone except emergency personnel and evacuees.  

NJmike PE said:

yeah, I'm thinking that it's probably time to evacuate from there. Once the hotel starts burning they are gonna be in some serious trouble. Smoke inhalation is no joke.  you can fix burns to your skin, not your lungs

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It's okay, he was wearing a dust mask. :huh:

jeb6294 said:

It's okay, he was wearing a dust mask. :huh:

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yeah, I noticed that too. Listen it's really no joke. I was at a fire last Wednesday night. Garage fire. External attack. I thought I was ok to not be on air will attacking it because I was outside. I'm just not starting to get my voice back to normal from inhaling whatever was burning in that garage.

Hope you get to feeling better fire fighter!

All I have to say is that if the pancake pantry burns down I'm going to personally drive out there and whip some fire ass

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mudpuppy said:

Apparently parts of Gatlinburg are on fire.  I haven't been able to find any updated reports as of this morning, but last night they were saying at least 30 structures burned down, including a 16 story hotel and an apartment complex.  They were supposed to get rain last night so hopefully it's died down since then.

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I doubt it was enough to help, it looks like they got a lot less rain than us up there and wildfires can smolder and flare back up as soon as it hits a new dry fuel source.   

NJmike PE said:

yeah, I noticed that too. Listen it's really no joke. I was at a fire last Wednesday night. Garage fire. External attack. I thought I was ok to not be on air will attacking it because I was outside. I'm just not starting to get my voice back to normal from inhaling whatever was burning in that garage.

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I would never go near a structure fire, but wildfires that are in the woods are much different.  I can say if I'm going to deploy my baking bag I wouldn't want to deal with a SCBA.  The Urban interface is changing the need to cross train, but the differences are so drastic on how to approach the battle.    I've been spending so much time reading up on the DAPL lately that I haven't had a chance to really follow the fires.  (but it looks like quite a few of them are attributed to "arson", which could very well just mean that someone didn't follow than burn ban) 

This is crazy.

I would gladly give up our rains for the east coast. We got 1" of rain yesterday.