Eastern Tennessee wildfire: Some Wears Valley residents evacuate as fires rage

Thursday afternoon update:

The Wears Valley wildfire grew extensively over the last 15 hours. It is not over 3,700 acres and only about 5 percent contained. The Sevier County Emergency Management Agency ordered mandatory evacuations for residents in the Wears Valley and Walden's Creek areas.

Aside from the Pigeon Forge Community Center that was opened yesterday for evacuees to shelter, the Seymour Heights Christian Church at 122 Boyds Creek  Highway is now open to help those displaced by the fire.

Authorities have provided this map to help those identify that need to evacuate. See map here. Residents will also be able to locate on the map any other additional shelters opening throughout the day or in the coming days depending on how soon the fire can be contained.

Randy McNally, Lt. Governor, has stated that 71 fire departments are responding to the fire with over 100 pieces of equipment, including vehicles. Eight helicopters are expected to help fight the fire today.

Around 11,000 homes have been evacuated and at least 100 structures have been damaged since the fire started on Wednesday.

Although humidity levels have drastically increased, the strong winds will remain in place Thursday through the early evening. Gusts of 30 mph are making the battle with the fires much more difficult. Across higher elevations, winds could gust up to 35 mph.

Some showers will be passing by tonight until about 4 a.m. These showers will be light but could bring some benefit and help combat the fires. The winds will still be gusting up to 20 mph from the west. We forecast the winds to decrease further by the weekend.

Original story published on Wednesday afternoon:

Parts of a 6,000 people community in the Wears Valley in Tennessee was prompted to evacuate late Wednesday morning due to a large fast-moving fire.

Wears Valley is located about 7 miles west of Gatlinburg. The Great Smoky Mountains, which including Gatlinburg were scorched by wildfires in 2016. Over 2,000 structures were destroyed and there were 14 deaths.

The fires that started on Wednesday morning have rapidly grown due to the very dry air in place and the winds gusting up to 40 mph. Multiple agencies are responding to the wildfire. The Waldens Creek Volunteers Fire Department stated that the fire has already destroyed two structures and continues to creep up closer to other structures.

Evacuees are being directed to a shelter at the Pigeon Forge Community Center.

This is a developing story and we will continue to update as soon as more information is released.