The Mercury News

Tourists return to Gatlinburg

Massive rebuilding effort looms after destructiv­e wildfire

- By Erik Schelzig

GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Visitors jammed the main roads and sidewalks in Gatlinburg as the tourism city reopened to the public Friday for the first time since wildfires killed 14 people.

While the main drag was left intact, the charred remains of homes, vehicles and businesses on side roads served as a reminder of the cleanup and repairs needed in the days ahead. Officials estimate 2,500 buildings were damaged by the wildfires that spread in high winds out of the Great Smoky Mountains on Nov. 28.

The hills around the resort area featured a steady chorus of chain saws. Fleets of utility vehicles and contractor­s’ trucks came and went. There was little need for security as many of the homes were so heavily burned that there was nothing left to steal.

Tricia Jeter had run the Grand Prix Motel for less than a month when the fires spread onto the ridges around Gatlinburg. Her husband, Kurt, hosed down the roof to keep embers from lighting the building on fire.

“When that fire came across the top, the wind moving it down the mountain was such that when it hit the cabins they looked like you’d lit the head of a match,” Kurt Jeter said.

The Grand Prix avoided the fate of several nearby buildings that were heavily damaged or destroyed. Up the road, a sign advertisin­g the Relaxation Properties stood in front of a burned out structures.

On the winding roads around the city, undamaged homes stand next to buildings burned to their foundation­s. Fire at the Laurel Point Resort torched the indoor pool, covering the water with a thick layer of ashes and debris.

Also reopening Friday was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where prosecutor­s say two juveniles started the fires that later spread. They have been arrested.

 ?? ERIK SCHELZIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? The remains of laundry machines sit on the site of a burned inn near downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The resort town reopened to the public Friday for the first time since wildfires on Nov. 28.
ERIK SCHELZIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS The remains of laundry machines sit on the site of a burned inn near downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The resort town reopened to the public Friday for the first time since wildfires on Nov. 28.

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