A review of how Smokies park officials responded to the Chimney Tops 2 fire in November has no set release date now, a National Park Service spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Park authorities had anticipated the review would be released this month. That estimate was offered following previous estimates that it was going to be released even earlier.
On Tuesday, 10News contacted Tina Boehle with the NPS Division of Fire and Aviation Management, National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho.
"The Individual Fire Review of the Chimney Tops 2 Fire is being finalized, and once the report is complete, it will be released to the public with an opportunity for the media to receive a complete briefing on the report’s findings and the National Park Service’s broader efforts to understand the fire, its impact, and lessons learned from the response," Boehle's statement reads.
She said "internal briefings" about the report are still being held within the Department of the Interior, which oversees Park Service operations.
Someone set an arson Nov. 23, 2016, at the popular hiking point. Two teens were accused in Sevier County but the state case was later dropped.
Park personnel used a "containment" approach to the original fire. Firefighters couldn't be dropped on the ground because of the area's steep, rocky terrain, officials have said.
The fire spread slowly atop the Chimneys area, amounting to small acreage - until winds and a storm began moving in late Nov. 27-early Nov. 28. The blaze that day soon threatened and then burned parts of Gatlinburg amid near 90-mph winds, burning or destroying more than 2,400 structures in Sevier County.
Fourteen people died in the disaster.
Some have questioned why Smokies personnel didn't treat the original blaze more aggressively, extinguishing it before it could spread.
Review team members looked at decisions park officials made from the time the fire was set until it roared into Gatlinburg.
It was always the intent of park personnel to put the blaze out, authorities have told 10News. Helicopters alone could not have done the job, according to investigators.