Aramont

I think some of you may have taken a couple of classes at Aramont in the Gatlinburg area of east Tennessee... just heard on the news that part of the school and some of the dorms have been destroyed in the wild fires burning in and around the area... we've been having wild fires in east Tennessee for a couple of weeks now and last nights winds really whipped up the fires. We had 30-40 mile an hour winds for a good part of the night.

We had an evacuation order for parts of Tellico Plains also, but understand those fires have been contained now. I'm no where near where the fires were, so no concern for my place, except I have a burn pile out behind my shop that's reach head height and even though I burn in a fire pit, would not consider starting a fire just yet.

The wife just reported that news has said that Uber-Gatlinburg has been totally destroyed. She said there were some animals up there in a small nature area... hopefully they were either released to escape or were moved. She also said a cabin resort called Black Bear Resort lost all their cabins.

Just got an update from WBIRTV re the fires in Gatlinberg and area.... Aramont lost two dorms and a maintenance building, but the main structures, class room, gallery and such are safe at the moment.

Ober-Gatlinberg was reported by TEMA as being destroyed, but owners/managers there have since posted a video showing all the buildings okay.... some minor damage but nothing too severe. Several other resorts in and around the area have report major damage... one was reported as having lost nearly 100 cabins... not sure where that resort is.

No major fires in my area... the one in Tellico Plains has been reported as contained. More rain predicted for this evening and tomorrow... maybe will douse most of the fires.

Dang, Chuck! Hope all works out alright on those fires. Like you I hope the critters are alright. Surely someone let them out to fend for themselves or transported them away. Had a fire like that near the Aledo, Texas area south of me where I used to live. It was a bad one but they finally got it out. Burned up a bunch of middle sized ranches and so on. Good luck!!!

how is that the news can say one thing and have the property owners say its all wrong??? just state facts news people to avoid panic in the ranks

larry merlau said:

how is that the news can say one thing and have the property owners say its all wrong??? just state facts news people to avoid panic in the ranks

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I suspect news no longer does fact check before they "go live with breaking news".... they need the sensationalism to keep their ratings up??

We haven't had an inch or more rain in a single day since something like July the 9th. We've been under a complete burn ban for several weeks now. It's been between 15 to 20 inches below normal on rain fall and like a lot of the country well above average on temps. It's the driest I can remember it in a long time. I know it's nothing like you guys on the West Coast see, but we generally don't see stuff like this very often fire wise. Said they evacuated something like 14,000 folks.

We were in a drought for a long time here. It finally busted in my general area last fall. Been fairly wet since. I know about those dry spells. Not fun. And, when it is dryer than a popcorn fart some people just don't use common sense. So you end up with wildfires which calculates to wildlife loss, property loss and all kinds of other losses. As far as the news is concerned to me they quit serving the public decades ago. They haven't cared about the real facts for a long time. It's a shame. Murrow and all them are probably rolling in their graves over what American media is now. Which is why I don't turn them on. All they do is get me mad and raise the blood pressure.

I know all too well that wildfires are no fun, Glad to see you're safe, Chuck, but sorry to hear about the damage to Arrowmont.