Well, the fires in our area have been contained. Not out of the woods yet though (pardon the pun) But as close as we can get right now. Rain coming soon again.
Dolly is helping as she always does. People don't realize what shes done for the area.
At noon today the death toll was up to 13 for these fires.
You wouldn't think finding a body would be too difficult. One fire investigator described it as the fires being so hot that the body is exposed to nearly the equal of a cremation.
The fires are still burning enough to be smoking up the surrounding areas.
Gatlinburg opened for business Friday. My son and I made a lap down the bypass to Sugarlands area then back through down town.
Lots of acreage burned along the roadways. It is not like I expected to see. Spot fires spread here and there for miles. Most burned under brush leaving barely a mark on standing trees.
Down town was untouched from major carnage. It is cleaned up looking and running as normal. All around the perimeter of the city you can see scorched earth and decimated buildings.
Riding a couple miles out 321 we saw the damage to buildings along the highway through that part of town. Again the spotting was amazing. Along the road two buildings burned to the ground then skip a few to burn one, skip a few more then burn three. No particular order, total randomness.
Most buildings a couple of hundred feet above the valley floor of the area are gone.
2800+ buildings in the area were destroyed. 14 people died. Three still missing.
We drove by a couple of the staging areas for receiving donations of 'stuff'. Pallets and pallets filled parking lots of empty giant show venue buildings after the inside store areas filled up.
For a Saturday morning on a cold sunny day , I would guess they were at about 1/2 to 2/3 of the normal traffic, human or vehicle. It will take some time, but It will be a safe bet they will come back better than ever.
