On November 23, 2016, Tennessee's biggest fire occurred in Gatlinburg. This enormous fire lasted over a span of days and affected thousands of animals and people. A numourous amount of people had to evacuate the area and leave all their possessions behind. Researchers are saying that the fire was possibly man-made. Some civilians believe this statement, while others think it was caused naturally. People like to jump to conclusions when they a tragic event happens and not consider what other factors were surrounding this fire. The environment had a big role in this fire happening because of the drought and high winds that were occurring in Tennessee during the time of the fire. These factors can make one believe that the fire was not man-made
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Gatlinburg is down 9.5 inches of rain from the yearly average. With Gatlinburg being tremendously dry, it made the forests vulnerable for fires. This is why the fire was produced with extreme ease and happened so rapidly. Seeing that the fire was spreading so quickly even Gov. Bill Haslam had this to say, “This is the largest fire in the last hundred years of the state of Tennessee,”. With this being the driest year, it was only a matter of time before something terrible would happen. The environment caused this fire, but people are just trying to find someone to blame. A man did not cause 14,000 people to evacuate the city and leave their homes. It was the drought and other factors involving the development of the fire. This may be true, but another main factor of the fire spreading expentionally fast was because of the high winds. The speed of the winds that were going through Tennessee was recorded to be around average of twenty to forty mph. The winds were even were recored of a high of eighty seven mph and were carrying the flames with them. At this speed, it made the fire able to spread across a large scale in a matter of minutes. With no rainfall coming to help contain the fire, it was almost instantly turned into one of the biggest wildfires ever recorded. Once the winds started spreading the fires throughout Gatlinburg officers were telling civilians to get out and Judy Tucker said, ”We were just told by the Gatlinburg Fire Department that they had told everybody in Gatlinburg to get out,”. The fire has killed fourteen people at this point and over 150 buildings have been burned down. Thousands of people are going to be left homeless and nothing left except the items they brought leaving the town of Gatlinburg. With the environment not producing as much rainfall, it is causing a nation wide drought and what used to be “rare” wild-fires are now becoming more common. With the
Gatlinburg is down 9.5 inches of rain from the yearly average. With Gatlinburg being tremendously dry, it made the forests vulnerable for fires. This is why the fire was produced with extreme ease and happened so rapidly. Seeing that the fire was spreading so quickly even Gov. Bill Haslam had this to say, “This is the largest fire in the last hundred years of the state of Tennessee,”. With this being the driest year, it was only a matter of time before something terrible would happen. The environment caused this fire, but people are just trying to find someone to blame. A man did not cause 14,000 people to evacuate the city and leave their homes. It was the drought and other factors involving the development of the fire. This may be true, but another main factor of the fire spreading expentionally fast was because of the high winds. The speed of the winds that were going through Tennessee was recorded to be around average of twenty to forty mph. The winds were even were recored of a high of eighty seven mph and were carrying the flames with them. At this speed, it made the fire able to spread across a large scale in a matter of minutes. With no rainfall coming to help contain the fire, it was almost instantly turned into one of the biggest wildfires ever recorded. Once the winds started spreading the fires throughout Gatlinburg officers were telling civilians to get out and Judy Tucker said, ”We were just told by the Gatlinburg Fire Department that they had told everybody in Gatlinburg to get out,”. The fire has killed fourteen people at this point and over 150 buildings have been burned down. Thousands of people are going to be left homeless and nothing left except the items they brought leaving the town of Gatlinburg. With the environment not producing as much rainfall, it is causing a nation wide drought and what used to be “rare” wild-fires are now becoming more common. With the