The most recent example of a devastating wildfire occurred in East Tennessee in November of 2016, involving the cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. A devastating combination of extreme drought conditions, present throughout East Tennessee in October and November of 2016, combined with high winds and a lack of proper monitoring of what started out as a small fire in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, became an unprecedented catastrophe for the city of Gatlinburg and portions of Pigeon Forge.
In an area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), called Chimney Tops, a wildfire broke out (some claim it was started by kids), on November 23, 2016. Park personnel, not only failed to monitor this fire during the next several evenings, but later discovered on November 28, 2016 that hurricane force winds were present in the …show more content…
At its peak, on November 28, 2016, the fire was burning at a rate of 2000 acres per hour. (Guthrie, Finucane, Keith, & Stinnett, 2017)
The dry, windy conditions made for the perfect storm. All three categories that affect the spread of a wildfire were present; weather; fuels (vegetation) and topography. (Abbott, P.L., 2014)
What I found particularly confounding, is there apparently there was no communication whatsoever between GSMNO staff and the Gatlinburg Fire Department from November 23, 2016 until the morning of November 28, 2016, when the fire was at its peak.
There were multiple emergency management failures in the handling of this catastrophe. First of all, the volume of incoming calls and radio traffic exceeded both the police and fire department’s ability to respond, there were difficulties with communication between the EOC and dispatch as spotty cell phone service and radio communication so saturated that it was reportedly not even
In an area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), called Chimney Tops, a wildfire broke out (some claim it was started by kids), on November 23, 2016. Park personnel, not only failed to monitor this fire during the next several evenings, but later discovered on November 28, 2016 that hurricane force winds were present in the …show more content…
At its peak, on November 28, 2016, the fire was burning at a rate of 2000 acres per hour. (Guthrie, Finucane, Keith, & Stinnett, 2017)
The dry, windy conditions made for the perfect storm. All three categories that affect the spread of a wildfire were present; weather; fuels (vegetation) and topography. (Abbott, P.L., 2014)
What I found particularly confounding, is there apparently there was no communication whatsoever between GSMNO staff and the Gatlinburg Fire Department from November 23, 2016 until the morning of November 28, 2016, when the fire was at its peak.
There were multiple emergency management failures in the handling of this catastrophe. First of all, the volume of incoming calls and radio traffic exceeded both the police and fire department’s ability to respond, there were difficulties with communication between the EOC and dispatch as spotty cell phone service and radio communication so saturated that it was reportedly not even