ShadyGreenThumb said: to @Katiebear and for brighter days ahead because they do exist. This I know is true.

This is SO true - I know it for an ongoing Fact. Thank goodness that Katie had said she is feeling better

I hope everyone can keep there thoughts and prayers for the people of Gatlinburg. The city almost burnt down do to wild fires and 87 m.p.h winds. It is the worst fire in Gatlinburgs history. http://wate.com/

I am feeling better. Thanksgiving just hit me hard. Today my neighbor Diane visited and she agreed to be an elf when I do my Christmas rounds as Santa. That is a relief as the person who went with me last year had a melt down of sorts and I had to stop and remonstrate with her in the middle of our travels around town. Not fun. Diane will be fine. katie

Gatlinburg is in our thoughts and prayers up here.

Down here, too. katie

Heath, that is very sad indeed, so many homes lost, it is especially sad since I heard that it may have been human caused.

It is sad. People don't understand what a burn band is.

plantcollector said:I hope everyone can keep there thoughts and prayers for the people of Gatlinburg. The city almost burnt down do to wild fires and 87 m.p.h winds. It is the worst fire in Gatlinburgs history. http://wate.com/

Thank you for posting this. I live in wild fire country and know how life changing something like this can be for everyone.

Yes, I will remember the people in Gatlinburg in my prayers.

prayers for the folk of Gatlinburg - how truly heinous, if this is a human-caused fire (on purpose?!?!)

So sad about Gatlinburg. We haven't been to that area for some years, and had even considered it for retirement. Prayers for all of those affected by this horrible event.

I was in Berkley when Oakland had the firestorm. I worked for Red Cross doing casework. It was devastating. The destruction was incredible. Most who were affected loft everything. There was no bell curve where most had minor damage. It was like working in a war zone. katie

It looks like a war zone here. They did say it was human-caused but they don't know if it was arson. The fire want from 200 hundred acres to 15,000 acres in less than 12 hours.

Here are some pictures of the smoke before the fires even got bad. The pictures don't do it justice of how Smokey it was. Normally you can see the mountains in the background

Heath,
Thanks for posting the photos. It looks like rain there today; and hopefully it will help control the spread of fires. The scenes on TV news last night looked awful with so much destruction in homes and businesses. Hoping for the best; Prayers & best wishes go to you all.

It has rained most of the day. Thank god. This is the first substantial rain since July.

@plantcollector - Heath we have been following the fires and we're keeping everyone in our prayers. We, and several members of our family, have been to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area several times and have stayed at the Westgate which I now understand has burned. We ate at the Alamo in Gatlinburg and I see it has burned too. We love the area and it is our all time favorite classic car show in the Fall. I've been wondering how many people on NGA are affected by this and found your post. Many prayers going up from Iowa.

Wildfires and tornados, nature at its worst!

Linda and will add hurricanes to that. Never thought too much about hurricanes until I had to live through some.

That list can be expanded depending on where you live: floods, snow slides, tsunamis, ice storms, etc.

These should be They all do so much damage and change people's lives.