Two local couples on a vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee are among the over 14,000 tourists and residents evacuated from raging wildfires in the region. Retired Mountain Home chiropractor, Dr. Richard Byrd says when he and his wife Jo arrived Sunday night with friends Bill and Mary Ann Joyce from West Plains they could see smoke from the fires.
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Bryd says the couples settled down for an evening of dominos when the smoke alarms in the condo unit where they were went off. At first he thought it came from burned popcorn and then realized, it was from the nearby fires.
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The couples got in separate cars and started driving. Byrd says there were no emergency vehicles or personnel to direct traffic, so they started following other cars escaping the flames. After several wrong turns and a dead end, they went towards Gatlinburg, where they were turned back. Eventually the cars they were following came to a country road which they followed to U. S. Highway 321 where they found a sports complex that was a designated emergency shelter. Byrd says there were between 300 and 400 other evacuees at the shelter.
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During the escape from the fire, the Byrds and Joyces were separated. About 12:30 Tuesday morning they finally made contact with the other couple who had made it to a motel in Jefferson City, north of Gatlinburg and east of Knoxville. The two couples reunited about 2:15 Tuesday morning.
Byrd says they had no idea how close the fires were to them.
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They couples have had no word about the resort where they were staying where they left most of their belongings behind, including cell phones. Byrd says he and his wife are still planning to go to Hilton Head in a few days for a tennis tournament.
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