Arsonists Burning Eastern Tennessee Down?

As you probably haven't heard (because the national MSM doesn't appear interested in covering it yet), Gatlinburg, TN is burning to the ground.

Potentially, all of it.


Link.

As many as 30 structures are on fire in Gatlinburg.

But the real kicker is that it is quite possible these fires were intentionally set.

One week ago, the following was reported:

Wildfires continue spread across Southeast as arson probes launched

Firefighters have made progress in battling many of the large wildfires burning in the Southeast, but several blazes continue to creep into new areas — and investigators say more fires are being lit each day by suspected arsonists.

There are 44 uncontained large fires in the South, covering a total of more than 120,000 acres, national fire officials said Tuesday.

Arson investigations are underway in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky.

The article continues:

In Tennessee, 23 new fires have been reported since Friday, and 14 of them are suspected arsons, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture reported.

The week prior to that: East TN man arrested for setting wildfires

From the original article:

More than 5,000 people from local, state and federal agencies have been battling the wildfires across the South, authorities said. The U.S. Forest Service is investigating what caused many of the larger blazes.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has reached out to the Forest Service, offering to help investigate, Special Agent Larry Priester said. So far, he said, the agency has not joined the probe. "Their main focus now is just getting the fires contained," he said.

So this does have the attention of the federal ATF.

Last night, when I saw this tweet from some guy living in the area, I wasn't sure it could be true. But given the arson reporting I've posted above, maybe it is.


Link.

So this is a dimension of a unfolding story largely ignored by the MSM. We'll see what we learn as the day progresses and in the coming days on these arson investigations.

If any of it is true, there are some sick people who need to never see the light of day again.

My heart goes out to all of you down there. Stay safe.

a reply to: loam

67 fires is highly suspicious unless there was lightning around . Sadly there are people out there that get a kick out of lighting fires and the scary thing is a lot of them are firefighters . Just wondering , is it usual to get fires this time of year there as i would have imagined summer was slipping away rather quickly .

a reply to: loam

Had no ideai mate !!

Keep us updated ... wow !

a reply to: hutch622

There had been reporting of extremely dry conditions for several weeks.

But what worries me about this arson story is the scale of it. It seems like several people might be involved. WTF would that be about???

a reply to: loam

This is being covered nationally.

www.nbcnews.com...

My sympathy. I hope there is no loss of life. The Smokies are beautiful; I hope they recover quickly.

a reply to: loam

Just adding some interesting, IMO, visuals.
fires.globalincidentmap.com...
activefiremaps.fs.fed.us...

A few days ago, I had a link that told how many fires (across the state, all counties) were suspected of being arson but, I've lost it.
Also, I wonder if carelessness is being considered arson?

In the county that I live in, burn permits are required Oct through May but, I have been amazed even after the burn ban was put in place about two weeks ago how many folks are still out burning leaves, etc. and they have allowed the fires to get out of control fairly quickly.
Ridiculous amount of scanner traffic for burning leaves that caused brush fires. Last night, due to the high winds, trees and limbs were coming down across power lines causing from the lines and transformers to start fires. The winds fueled that.

People just cannot help themselves I suppose.

a reply to: loam

WTF would that be about???

I have been quite concerned for a while now that if certain groups had any idea they would use arson to further their agenda . Here in Australia a few well placed fires would be unstoppable and i am sure it would be the same there .

originally posted by: loam
As you probably haven't heard (because the national MSM doesn't appear interested in covering it yet), Gatlinburg, TN is burning to the ground.

Potentially, all of it.

Link.

As many as 30 structures are on fire in Gatlinburg.

But the real kicker is that it is quite possible these fires were intentionally set.

One week ago, the following was reported:

Wildfires continue spread across Southeast as arson probes launched

Firefighters have made progress in battling many of the large wildfires burning in the Southeast, but several blazes continue to creep into new areas — and investigators say more fires are being lit each day by suspected arsonists.

There are 44 uncontained large fires in the South, covering a total of more than 120,000 acres, national fire officials said Tuesday.

Arson investigations are underway in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky.

The article continues:

In Tennessee, 23 new fires have been reported since Friday, and 14 of them are suspected arsons, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture reported.

The week prior to that: East TN man arrested for setting wildfires

From the original article:

More than 5,000 people from local, state and federal agencies have been battling the wildfires across the South, authorities said. The U.S. Forest Service is investigating what caused many of the larger blazes.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has reached out to the Forest Service, offering to help investigate, Special Agent Larry Priester said. So far, he said, the agency has not joined the probe. "Their main focus now is just getting the fires contained," he said.

So this does have the attention of the federal ATF.

Last night, when I saw this tweet from some guy living in the area, I wasn't sure it could be true. But given the arson reporting I've posted above, maybe it is.

Link.

So this is a dimension of a unfolding story largely ignored by the MSM. We'll see what we learn as the day progresses and in the coming days on these arson investigations.

If any of it is true, there are some sick people who need to never see the light of day again.

My heart goes out to all of you down there. Stay safe.

Wonder if the North GA fires all over Rabun County have anything to do with this as well?

I can attest to the smoke filling Atlanta from thone and Rabun County is about 2.5 hours from me with pigeon forge being another 2 from there.

I can tell you that the fires were massive.

Please use existing thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Closed.

This thread is being reopened.
Please discuss the arson angle of the fires only.


and, as always:

Do NOT reply to this post!!

The following article confirms suspicion that the specific Gatlinberg fires were intentional.

“Arsonists need to go to prison for a long time,” an aquarium employee captioned the video.

Authorities suspect the the blaze, one of several that broke out on the nearby Chimney Tops Mountains last week, was deliberate. An arsonist could not have picked a more destructive time to act. The Smoky Mountains had been in the midst of a severe drought, receiving only 3.5 inches of rain since September 1. On Monday, when the fires began their out-of-control spread, Gatlinburg, Tennessee was experiencing powerful winds “in excess of 87 miles an hour,” Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said in a Tuesday press conference. “That is hurricane force.”


Link.

ETA:

Here's an incident map of all of the current major fires:


Link.

Meanwhile, the scale of the damage increases:

Wildfires scorch 250 buildings in Tennessee tourist area as thousands flee

This article written two weeks ago indicates:

As firefighters continue to fight wildfires in Tennessee and seek out the arsonists who set them, two more suspects have been arrested and charged with igniting fires.

The total brings to seven the number of suspects arrested on suspicion of setting forest fires in the last 20 days.

Link.

Here is the press conference State and County officials held about the arson problem and response efforts.

It really begins @5:45.





I'm still looking for theories about why so many of these fires are being set? As far as I'm aware, this is not a usual occurrence, given the number of people already arrested, suspected at large and the number of fires involved.

I have a project in Gatlinburg as soon as we are allowed in, perhaps tomorrow. We are going to set up generators to power a restaurant, to aid the relief effort. It looks like FEMA may be taking over the site. I don't know if that is about arson or suspected victims of the fire or just the massive amounts of destruction.
I will tell you that I was at Yellowstone just after the fires about twenty years ago and in my mind this was more intense. Seeing the Smokeys, a world heritage site, ablaze was surreal. I suspect the next few days will be very difficult for me and my men.

a reply to: Nickn3

I've been seeing on twitter reports that the FBI and DHS are also en-route, but I can't confirm these with any news source.

I also think it's so bizarre that despite the obvious number of arson cases leading up to last night, so few news sources are mentioning it in their main articles. Usually, they are all over that stuff.

Obviously, some on twitter are suggesting pyroterrorism...pick your boogeyman (Muslim extremists or Trump haters), but I'm not seeing anything credible other than just the accusations.

The fact Israel made the claim of pyroterrorism last week is certainly fueling speculation here.

CNN has just now announced live on TV the arson aspect of this story.

Anderson Cooper 360

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: hutch622

There had been reporting of extremely dry conditions for several weeks.

But what worries me about this arson story is the scale of it. It seems like several people might be involved. WTF would that be about???

I'd look at the terrorist angle for some of these fires.

It just seems to be a logical thing to do for a chicken# terrorist.

a reply to: burgerbuddy

If the FBI and DHS rumors turn out to be true, then I'd agree that possibility would look more in play.

Still can't confirm DHS or FBI involvement yet.

This is from 2012:

'Unleash Hell': New Al Qaeda magazine describes in detail how to start huge forest fires across the U.S..with instructions on how to make 'ember bombs'

This Fire Blogis tracking each and every fire started by arson in the area.

The number is staggering.

Its hard to understand why this isn't getting more attention. More than 700 structures destroyed. Death toll keeps rising and people are still missing.

WTF???

In the first post of this thread, that source said there were 14 of the fires started by arson, in the more detailed link of the post above, the count has risen to 39!

39!

What the hell is going on?