Investigators in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park want your help determining who started a fire at a historic cabin in Elkmont.
The National Park Service requested public assistance on Tuesday. It gave few details about the extent of the fire damage, other than saying the fire was quickly extinguished by rangers on Nov. 29, 2017, at around 10:00 a.m.
WBIR visited Elkmont and the damage is primarily contained to the Cook cabin in the Daisy Town section of the historic district.
There are visible burns to the porch of the cabin and smoke stains cover the walls and ceiling of the Cook cabin. Charred chunks of wood have been torn from the porch and police tape surrounds the cabin.
There is no obvious fire or smoke damage to the surrounding cabins in Elkmont.
The Cook cabin is one of 19 buildings the National Park Service has decided to rehabilitate and preserve in Elkmont. The community was established before the Smokies became a national park and consisted of more than 70 vacation cabins and the large Wonderland Hotel. Leaders in the community helped establish the national park. Most of the cabins were vacated at the end of 1992 when the leases expired.
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A decades-long debate ensued about what to do with the cabins after the leases expired. The ultimate decision was to preserve 19, tear down the rest, and chip away at the project as funding became available. Two of the buildings can be rented for events during the day. The remaining cabins will serve as empty museum exhibits visitors can walk inside.
In 2017, crews received funding to tear down dozens of the old cabins along the Little River Trail and Jakes Creek while also restoring four cabins in Daisy Town. A total of six buildings have now been restored with 13 to go.
The four cabins that were meticulously restored in 2017 are near the Cook cabin in Daisy Town, but were not damaged. If funding is approved, the NPS hopes to have the remaining 13 cabins - including the Cook cabin - restored by 2025. The restoration of the Cook cabin will now include repairs to fire and smoke damage.
Park service investigators are looking for witnesses who may have seen who started the fire. If you were in the area that day and have any information, you can contact them by:
• CALL or TEXT the ISB Tip Line at 888-653-0009
• ONLINE at www.nps.gov/isb and click “Submit a Tip”
• EMAIL nps_isb@nps.gov
• MESSAGE on Facebook @InvestigativeServicesNPS or Twitter @SpecialAgentNPS