A team of fire experts is assembling at Great Smoky Mountains National Park to conduct a review of the deadly Chimney Tops 2 fire that started in the park the day before Thanksgiving and blew up the following Monday to engulf Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
A National Park Service release Thursday said the purpose of the review team is to identify the facts leading up to and during the Chimney Tops 2 fire within the boundaries of the national park, as well as to make recommendations on any planning, operational, or managerial issues that can be addressed locally, regionally, and/or nationally to reduce the chances of a similar incident in the future.
“The team will conduct a thorough review of the actions and response to this fire, which will include compliance with policy and application of professional wildland firefighting practices," said Bill Kaage, division chief for the National Park Service's Division of Fire and Aviation based in Boise, Idaho. "Ultimately, the purpose of the review is to identify lessons learned from this incident for use by any wildland firefighting agency.”
There has been some local criticism of how the Park Service battled the fire. While it was spotted in the evening of November 23, park crews didn't start fighting it until Thanksgiving Day due to darkness and the steepness of the terrain that presented safety issues. In sweeping across Gatlinburg, the fire was blamed for 14 deaths.
Hurricane-force winds on November 28 into November 29 blew up the fire into a conflagration that swept through Gatlinburg, trapping many in their homes and destroyed more than 1,000 structures. Eventually more than 16,000 acres were blackened by the flames (not everything within the fire boundaries burned), with nearly 11,000 acres of that total within the national park. But the worst of the damage was done in Gatlinburg and surrounding Sevier County.
Two teenagers were arrested in early December in connection with the fire.
The Chimney Tops 2 fire review team is made up of interagency representatives: a team leader, a fire behavior specialist, two fire operations/risk management specialists, an NPS fire management officer from outside of the region, a municipal fire department representative from within the region, and an NPS management liaison.
Joe Stutler, a senior advisor for Deschutes County, Oregon, will lead the team. Stutler has extensive experience in wildland fire at the federal level as well as in local government and the private sector. He has nearly 50 years of knowledge of the complexities of fire management, including fire behavior and policy.
Other team members include:
- Fire Behavior Specialist: William Grauel, Bureau of Indian Affairs – National Fire Ecologist, Boise, ID
- Municipal Fire Department Representative: Jimmy Isaacs, Boone Fire Department – Chief, Boone, NC
- Fire Operations/Risk Management Specialist: Shane Greer, U.S. Forest Service – Assistant Fire Director-Risk Management, Region 2, Golden, CO
- NPS Fire Management Officer: Mike Lewelling, Rocky Mountain National Park – Fire Management Officer, Estes Park, CO
- Fire Operations/Risk Management Specialist/Writer/Editor: Miranda Stuart, NPS Branch of Wildland Fire – Fire Management Specialist, Crawfordville, FL
- NPS Management Liaison: Tim Reid, National Park Service – Superintendent, Devils Tower National Monument, WY
The work of the review team is expected to take up to two weeks. After that, the team has 45 days to complete their report and submit it to Chief Kaage for review prior to it being made public.
Comments
Take a look at the makeup of the "review" panel. The majority of them work for the Dept of Agriculture or Interior in some shape or form. Cash has stacked the deck in his favor but it won't curtail the lawsuits likely coming. I was there. I saw the fire the day before it spread out of control. Looks like it could have easily have been doused from the air. Cash was a firefighter for the Forest Service previously. I predict this panel will be like the one Bush convened 400 plus days after ordering all the evidence to be removed from "WTC ground zero". Stacked with his cronies to produce a favorable result and dismiss the unusual presence of thermite and random buildings falling.
It will take independent folks to find the "thermite" here. And knowing these crooks, it probably exists. (BTW, former rangers are pointing fingers at the NPS as well, one in particular, Jerry Grubb has levied some serious accusations against his former bosses. Sadly, it takes the safety of retirement to do the right thing for NPS folks sometimes. If they did so while in uniform, there wouldn't be these type of judgemental lapses)
It is important to give the review panel a chance to get the facts from a variety of sources. If we can keep some of the politics out of it, hard to do in these polarizing times, they will do a good job. Everyone involved, including the citizens of the community deserve due process. That takes some time and support. The team selected is very experienced, let us hope they will be permitted to do an impartial investigation.
How can you have a review from a hand picked panel of NPS sycophants? You can't. It needs to be a panel picked by someone other than the Superintendent in question. It should be the citizens of Sevier County who lost loved ones, not the freaking NPS guy responsible.
That would be no more unbiased than the industry experts, who you call sycophants.
Let's be really unbiased - pick people who have no past training or experience in fire fighting and have no relation to anyone with a financial or emotional investment. Do you know any of the current panel? Do you have any specific individual reason to impugn their ethics more than your NPS-hate?
The difference now, Rick is that the agency has killed 14 people with their negligence. And since I was there and you were not, I clearly saw a fire that looked like it could have been squelched from the air. But since you don't believe me, how about one of your beloved NPS Rangers? Here is what he has to say about the NPS response, an agency that puts food on your family plate. https://www.facebook.com/mountaintough/posts/1400973966580748
The Smokies park managers including the superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief ranger of public safety, chief ranger of resource management and fire management officer should all be suspended pending the completion of the proper Board of Inquiry so the investigation will not be impeded or influenced.---Jerry Grubb NPS Smokies
Grubb also makes some serious allegations about the only fatal bear mauling in the Smokies and how they were directed not to respond as bears were feeding on a human. The NPS here is crooked. https://www.facebook.com/backroomknox/posts/642586545866398
It was a surreal moment trying to digest what I was seeing with a ranger standing with his arms crossed while these bears were actually attacking a victim.--Jerry Grubb NPS Ranger
I think Mr. Grubb should be contacted by the panel review team, his allegations are serious and should be investigated. A board of inquiry will be necessary, but lets give the review panel a chance, I do not believe they are just a bunch of yes men/women. All those involved should be heard but due process needs to be followed. A great book on this issue is "Inferno by Committee" by Tom Ribe. I hope those appointed to the panel have read Tom's book, both the NPS, and the citizens deserve no less. The issues involved are very complicated, particularly the issue of the Wildland/Urban Interface, the WUI for short, it is stressing all fire management agencies, a huge problem (see also "Between Two Fires", Stephen Pyne). This is a very important review and should not be shortchanged.
RMackie, We have no choice but to trust the panel. I will look into the book. Sounds like you have some experience on the subject.