Two Pigeon Forge firefighters had to abandon their vehicle when fire entrapped it while fighting the Hatcher Mountain fire, officials reported Thursday.
The two firefighters sought refuge in an area already burned over by the fire and made it out with only minor injuries.
The escape is only one of the close calls experienced in fighting the fire, which has spread to 3,700 acres. The fire is 5 percent contains as of noon Thursday, though firefighters do have it mostly surrounded.
As of Thursday morning, five pieces of apparatus were damaged by the fire. Roughly 100 homes were damaged. At about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, a Tennessee National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing on a soccer field when its engine failed.
The helicopter was involved in dropping water on the fires when it experienced engine trouble. It first jettisoned its water bucket and then landed in the field. All four crew members are fine.
AP – Firefighters from across Tennessee continued working Thursday morning to contain a wildfire near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that spread overnight despite rain from storms that passed through the area, officials said.
The blaze, which began as a brush fire Wednesday morning in the Hatcher Mountain area of Wears Valley, had spread to more than 3,700 acres (1,497 hectares) and had impacted more than 100 structures, Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said during a press conference. Around 11,000 homes in the area had been evacuated. Three injuries were reported during the blaze, but Waters said no fatalities or missing people had been reported.
He said a coordinated response from emergency personnel, firefighters, forestry officials and others helped mitigate damage in the area.
“This fire could have been much more devastating had we not had this team in place. They were able to, even with the winds and the low humidity, they were able to stay ahead of it as much as possible,” he said.
Firefighters from more than 70 agencies helped respond to the blaze and many worked through the night in an effort to keep it from spreading. It was only 5% contained, but fire lines drawn overnight helped keep the blaze from spreading into the city of Pigeon Forge, Waters said.
At least three shelters were established for those evacuated, authorities said. More than 100 people stayed overnight at the Pigeon Forge Community Center, Sharon Hudson, executive director of the Eastern Tennessee chapter of the American Red Cross. told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
A line of severe storms packing isolated tornadoes and high winds ripped across the Deep South overnight, killing at least two in the Florida Panhandle, toppling trees and power lines and leaving homes and businesses damaged as the vast weather front raced across several states.
