Wildfires fueled by high winds forced the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of buildings in a resort town on the border of the Smoky Mountains National Park in the U.S. state of Tennessee as National Guard soldiers arrived early Tuesday to assist firefighters. Rain had started to fall in some areas, but experts said it would not be enough to end the drought that has spread across several southeastern states and provided fuel for fires now burning for weeks in states including Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. The biggest fires are the 11,300-hectare Rough Ridge fire in north Georgia and the nearly 10,000-hectare Rock Mountain Fire that started in Georgia and then spread deep into North Carolina. In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, officials said hundreds of homes and other buildings, including a large hotel, were damaged or destroyed by fires, and preliminary surveys indicate that Westgate Resorts, with more than 100 buildings, and Ober Gatlinburg both were likely destroyed, according to a statement early Tuesday. Emergency officials ordered evacuations in downtown Gatlinburg and other areas of Sevier County near the Smoky Mountains. About 14,000 residents and visitors were evacuated from Gatlinburg alone, officials said. No deaths have been reported, but several people were hospitalized with burns.
