WEARS VALLEY, Tenn. — At the end of the asphalt road on the top of Hatcher Mountain sit the incinerated remains of four fire engines. Miraculously, the firefighters who drove them made it out alive.
When crews from the Northview-Kodak, Wears Valley, Pittman Center and Sevier County fire departments were dispatched to fight the flames shortly after 11 o'clock Wednesday morning, they nearly didn't come home.
Within seconds of their arrival at the top of Hatcher Mountain, the flames from the Indigo Lane fire roared up the hillside toward the firefighters. At times the amber tendrils of flame stretched 75 to 80 feet in the air, they recounted. It happened so fast, that they didn't have time to pull on their turnout gear or grab their air tanks.
"It went from no fire around us to nothing but fire in front of us," recalled Northview-Kodak firefighter Adam Parton. "Pretty much the air turned red."
The fire pushed them away from their trucks and they sought refuge inside a house atop the hill before attempting to make it back to their hoses.
"We were trying our best to get as much water on it as we could and it just wasn’t enough," said firefighter Dustin Wilhite. "We threw everything we had at it and it didn’t phase it at all."
The crews spotted a forestry service bulldozer coming up the mountain and quickly decided to follow the path he carved back down on foot. They had to leave their fire trucks behind.
"You always go back to the truck no matter what," Wilhite said. "That’s your safe spot. Well at this point, our safe spot was gone. It was on fire."
For the firefighters of Northview-Kodak, their safe spot was Engine 44 — the backbone of the department. It was the first truck the small squad ever bought new. Parton once posed for a photo with unit 44 as a grade-schooler who dreamed of growing up to drive it.
Wilhite and his wife Mandy took their wedding photos hanging off the back of Truck 44. As it burned, he called her — thinking this message might be his last.
"At this point, we’re not sure if we’re going to make it off this mountain," he recalled saying. "Our trucks have burned and, just, I love you and the kids."
By now, the five firefighters had followed the dozer to another home further down the ridge. They wet towels in the bathroom to hold over their faces to breathe and drank water bottles left in the fridge.
"We realized it’s burning on multiple sides of us now so we got to figure out a way out," Parton said. "We thought the way up was the only way you could come to get us. And that way was not passable."
Then their saving grace: a forestry service truck pulled up.
"Have no idea where he came from," Parton said.
The firefighters crammed in the back row -- Wilhite's face was pressed up against the glass so close he could feel the scalding heat of the flames.
"The intensity of the fire to me on Hatcher Mountain was a million times worse" than the flames of the 2016 Sevier County wildfire, which he fought from Gatlinburg's Mynatt Park.
They drove past the flames back down the hill to safety. All that remains at the top of the mountain are their fire trucks.
"I'm very thankful that we were with guys that wasn’t going to quit," Parton said. "We were getting off that mountain. That was our mentality. There was no quit up there by nobody."
How you can help
The small fire departments that lost fire engines atop Hatcher Mountain have started fundraising efforts as they look to replace the trucks. Here is how you can help:
Northview-Kodak Fire Department says to mail your donation to PO Box 4, Kodak, TN 37764 or go to any Citizens National Bank location and let them know you want to make a donation to the "Northview Kodak Fire Department Donation Fund."
Sevier County Fire Department is accepting donations via PayPal, according to its Facebook.
The Wears Valley Fire Department says donations can be made through its Venmo account @wearsvalleyfire or by mailing checks to 3339 Mattox Cemetery, Sevierville, TN 37862.
The Pittman Center Fire Department has a link to donate on its website and also accepts mailed donations to P.O. Box 652 Gatlinburg, TN. 37738