Residents forced to flee Tennessee wildfire

By Esra Kaymak Avci

WASHINGTON (AA) – Wildfires in parts of Tennessee damaged hundreds of buildings overnight and forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday.

The towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and parts of eastern Sevier County were evacuated, while hundreds of firefighters tried to extinguish the fire that blanketed the Great Smoky Mountain area, the agency said in a statement.

More than 14,000 residents alone have already left Gatlinburg.

"Three persons with severe burns were transferred form University of Tennessee’s Knoxville (UTK) hospital to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville overnight," the statement said.

"A fourth with burns to their face continues to be evaluated at UTK."

There are no reports of fatalities, according to the statement.

A temporary flight restriction is in place to prevent aircraft from complicating response efforts.

The fire began in the Great Smoky Mountains and quickly spread Monday evening as high winds pushed flames onto private property, according to the statement but it did not provide information on what started the fire.