Kathy Ogle (Feb 2017) — The last account of the Gatlinburg Fire I heard was that the fire killed 14 people, destroyed 2,013 homes and 53 commercial structures, almost 18,000 acres burned and caused more than $500 million in damage with the cost still rising. My daughter and I were able to make a trip to East Tennessee in January to see the damage first hand. Just a few weeks after the fire, the drive along the Parkway from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg has lots of burn damage to it on both sides. However, when you reach town and continue to drive down the Parkway, the main street in Gatlinburg with its many tourist attractions, it is almost unchanged. Most of the smoke damage has been cleaned up and folks are open for business. The original William Ogle/Martha Huskey log house is in Downtown Gatlinburg and was fine. But, if you look just up the hill or across the river, you can see the destruction of the fire. If you drive off the main road only a few blocks in most any direction, there are many blackened foundations and ash.1
At the suggestion of several members of the Ogle/Ogles Family Association, your Board of Directors voted to send a donation to the Dollywood Foundation to help with victims of the Gatlinburg fire. If you would like to know more about how Dolly is helping the victims of the fire, visit dollywoodfoundation.org.
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