GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Almost six years removed from the deadly wildfires, Gatlinburg City Commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the construction of a public memorial to pay tribute to those who died in 2016.
The Gatlinburg City Commission approved a contract with Whaley Construction for the Chimney Tops II Wildfires Memorial, which will be located at Mynatt Park.
Plans call for honoring first responders and the 14 lives lost in those wildfires. More than 300 agencies from across the state pitched in to assist Gatlinburg first responders. They will be individually named in the memorial. That includes Pigeon Forge Fire Department.
"It was a relief because we were out there for a while on our own. When you start seeing apparatus and departments from Chatanooga and Nashville and Murphysboro and places we never thought we would see come into the city, it was just an amazing feeling to know we had some help coming," Pigeon Forge Captain John Carr said.
The fire killed 14 people, destroyed more than 2,000 structures and displaced hundreds of people.
"We're a small community here. When you have permanent residents here inside the city that lose everything they have, you know, that's hard on all of us," Carr said. "We attempted several times to try to stop the fire but that was unsuccessful. We had never seen wind like that. We had never seen fire behavior like that."
It's been five years since the city said it would build a memorial to honor victims and survivors. The project faced several years of delays. In August 2019, the original downtown Gatlinburg site where they planned to build it was damaged by heavy rains, so the city decided to move the memorial site to Mynatt Park.
After the vote Tuesday evening, dates began falling into place and city leaders said construction will soon be underway.
"Long overdue. It's going to be a beautiful addition to the city and we can't wait to memorialize that event and the things that happened because it's so emotionally impactful to people and it's time that we got that put into place," Gatlinburg Commissioner Ryan DeSear said. "It will forever be etched in our mind and now we get to memorialize it in the right way."
The memorial involves two plazas on each side of LeConte Creek, one serving as a memorial to those who died in the November 28, 2016 Wildfires and the other as a tribute to the agencies who assisted during the response and recovery efforts.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is the main funding source through a Transportation Alternatives Grant, which was awarded in September 2019, in the amount of $852,293 and is a reimbursement grant. The City of Gatlinburg and Sevier County are funding 20% of the estimated cost of construction, plus engineering, in the amount of $333,450.25.
TDOT concurred earlier this month that Whaley Construction was the low bidder, with a submitted bid of $919,363.52. City officials said they hope to complete the project in 2023.