Thirty years later, pedestrian killed on Knoxville road ID'd as South Carolina man
TENNESSEE

TEMA: Death toll rises to 11 in Gatlinburg wildfires

Tyler Whetstone, and Matt Lakin
Knoxville News Sentinel

GATLINBURG — The death toll has climbed to 11 people in the fire that tore through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and this resort town earlier in the week, with the search still on for others, authorities said Thursday.

Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener said he'd been notified Thursday night of the most recent death. He said he had no specifics, including where the body was found or whether the person died in a hospital.

Sevier County authorities said they weren't aware of an 11th death.

Three victims have been identified by family members, but officials wouldn't confirm those identifications. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Leslie Earhart said identifications would be handled by medical examiners -- an indication remains might have to be identified from dental records.

"I'll reiterate what a distressing and depressing time it is for all of us and particularly these families," Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said.

Gatlinburg Police Chief Randy Brackins fought back tears at a morning news conference as he described the crawling pace of the search and rescue process.

"It's one of the most difficult things you can imagine," he said. "I know you're frustrated. If it were my family members, I'd be frustrated."

Alice Hagler, missing from Chalet Village, a collection of rental cabins, was one of three dead found in that neighborhood, her son has said. Memphis couple Jon and Janet Summers, who'd also been staying in Chalet Village, apparently died there as well, according to Jon Summers' brother, Jim.

One body was found Tuesday in a room at the Travelers Motel off U.S. Highway 321. Three more had been found by Wednesday afternoon – all three in a home on Campbell Lead Road -- and three more by Thursday afternoon, with the 11th death reported Thursday night.

Authorities haven't provided a list of residents unaccounted for. The TBI has set up a hotline for people to call at 800-TBI-FIND if they believe a loved one is missing.

That hotline has received nearly 100 calls over the past 24 hours, with agents following up about 70 leads from those calls, Earhart said, but "that does not mean 70 people are missing."

UPDATED: A list of the missing from Gatlinburg wildfires

Firefighters and emergency crews continued to work their way through fire-ravaged remote areas of Gatlinburg and surrounding Sevier County amid blocked roads, downed power lines, fallen trees and mudslides. Searchers divided the terrain into four zones and expected to finish searching all four by nightfall Thursday, Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said.

The remains of a home on the northern outskirts of Gatlinburg, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016.

About 200 firefighters, including various crews from agencies across the state, remained on the ground, with about 20 percent of the force still fighting flames and the rest focused on the search, he said. National Guardsmen and Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers fanned out to help conduct health and welfare checks at more than 70-plus homes, marking driveways to indicate whether occupants were safe.

"We're never going to give up hope. I will always hold out hope of a rescue," Miller said. "But now we are at hour 65 since the beginning of the fires. We have to come to the realization that the potential is great it will be more of a recovery (of corpses) than a rescue."

Gatlinburg evacuation order never sent to mobile devices, broadcast hours after fire reached city

Some of the searchers have lost homes and family members of their own.

"I know of two police officers who lost everything," Brackins said.

Most stayed at their duties despite being told to take breaks.

"Just like me, just like them and just like you, we've never seen anything like this before," he said. "Most people are numb, but they care about finding these people. They're sleeping on the floor. They don't want to go home."

Estimates place the number of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed at more than 700 so far – about 300 inside the Gatlinburg city limits and another 400 in neighboring Pigeon Forge and unincorporated communities such as Wears Valley and Cobbly Nob. A map will be posted online with updates in real time on the status of damaged properties, officials said, but that map wasn't complete Thursday night.

Residents will be allowed to return home briefly Friday to check property and recover possessions. Roads will be reopened from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. except for Beech Branch, Walker Trail and Wiley Oakley roads. Anyone returning must enter on East Parkway near City Hall and must bring proof of residency.

'Moving forward:' Gatlinburg evacuees wait to go home

Officials hope to have the city mostly reopened by the middle of next week, City Manager Cindy Ogle said.

All fires inside the city limits were out by Thursday with the exception of a few hot spots, Waters said, but firefighters warned forecasts of more wind and continued dry conditions mean the danger's not over.

"We don't want any of our recent precipitation to give any false sense of security, because fire is a tremendous beast," Miller said.

Eighty people have been treated at LeConte Medical Center for fire-related injuries, authorities said, with some still hospitalized. Three people — identified by relatives as Jon and Janet Summers' three sons, Branson, Jared and Wesley — suffered burns serious enough for treatment at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where they remained Thursday night.

The fire has consumed more than 17,000 acres since it began last week in the remote Chimney Tops area of the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Investigators determined that fire to be "human-caused," park Superintendent Cassius Cash said. The fire continued to rage through brush, deadwood and fallen leaves Thursday, and park officials warned recent rains haven't done enough to relieve the four-month drought that made the fire possible.

"The fire is not out," said Mark Jamieson, chief of the fire management team for the park. "It is just knocked down."

The U.S Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has joined the "initial stages" of the investigation into the fire's cause, ATF spokesman Michael Knight said.

Since the fire's start Nov. 23 on the Chimney Tops trail, the flames have spread to more than 6,200 acres outside the park. By Monday morning, the flames had spread by embers carried on the wind to the Twin Creeks community but didn't appear to pose an immediate threat to the city, said Miller, the Gatlinburg fire chief.

That changed by 6 p.m. when wind speeds doubled to more than 80 mph, toppling power lines and scattering embers for miles, he said.

"We went from nothing to over 20-plus structure fires in a matter of minutes," the fire chief said. "I don't have a great understanding of it myself, because it's so unfathomable."

How the historic Gatlinburg fires happened; a humble start

The fire displaced more than 14,000 residents from Gatlinburg alone, many of whom fled Monday night in the dark with nothing more than what they could carry. Most have found lodging with friends or family.

The head count at emergency shelters had fallen Thursday to around 200 people, according to the American Red Cross.

Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner, who lost his home and business in the fire, said the city's spirit still stands tall.

"Gatlinburg is the people," he said. "That's what Gatlinburg is. It's not the buildings. It's the people."

Besides the search for missing loved ones, calls continue to come in about missing pets. Authorities have asked that information on specific animals be provided to the county humane society at www.sevierhumane.org or on the society's Facebook page.

The Red Cross still has an abundance of food, water, clothing and other items, and has asked people to make only monetary donations for now. Donations may be made by calling 866-586-4483 or 865-430-7384.

Ten resources for Gatlinburg wildfire victims

A Pigeon Forge business donated $100,000 to relief efforts Wednesday, and country music icon Dolly Parton, Sevier County's most famous native, pledged to donate $1,000 per month for six months to every family who lost a home in the fire.

U.S. Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander said they would work with local authorities to ensure funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was timely and useful. They planned to tour areas hit by the fire Friday.

The state Department of Labor will work with local agencies to help expedite applications for unemployment insurance, Waters said. Insurance adjusters will be on hand as well.

Tennessean staff writer Dave Boucher contributed to this report.

More on the Sevier County wildfires: