Prayers for the people of Tennessee as they deal with a horrific dry season.  The tourist site and historic town of Gatlinburg is currently under serious threat.  Things are really bad.  There’s a video below showing two guys and a dog escaping –  watch it and you’ll see just how bad it is:

GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Hillbilly Golf, Arrowmont Arts and Crafts School, major hotels, a good portion of Regan Drive and countless other businesses and homes have been destroyed in a blaze that has firefighters continuing their efforts overnight in Gatlinburg, Tenn.
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“The center of Gatlinburg looks good for now,” said Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding. “It’s the apocalypse on both sides (of downtown).”
An estimated 40 to 50 fire units from volunteer agencies across East and Middle Tennessee were helping fight the fires, with a command center set up at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School.
Thirty structures are on fire in Gatlinburg, including the Park Vista Hotel, a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartment complex near the Park Vista that has “been completely inundated,” according to Dean Flener, spokesman for Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, in Nashville.
The elementary school, Pi Beta Phi, has not been destroyed, which is a change from initial reports from fire officials.


[…] TEMA reported earlier no fatalities that the organization knows of, but one report of a burn injury to an evacuee and minor injuries due to a fire truck involved in an accident.
LeConte Medical Center has treated four patients related to the fires, according to Covenant Health spokeswoman Tonya Stoutt-Brown. She did not have any further details early Tuesday morning.
Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville said late Monday night that they were on alert but had not received any patients from the fires.
Local officials ordered mandatory evacuations for Mynatt Park, Park Vista, Ski Mountain and the city of Gatlinburg. Evacuations were also ordered for the north end of Pigeon Forge.
The National Guard is looking at deploying personnel to help clear debris, but no timeline has been set for their arrival, said Flener. (read more)
update-1Check out this incredible escape video.  If they had been driving a car they would never have made it through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGhTegzVi-M
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