Death toll rises to 7 in eastern Tennessee wildfires


Authorities in Tennessee confirmed Wednesday that at least seven people have been killed in the wildfires that have swept through Sevier County.
More than 700 homes and businesses have been destroyed, and the fire has likely burned at least 15,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountains, The Tennessean reports. Investigators believe the fire was caused by embers from a wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park blowing into Gatlinburg on Monday night. High winds have helped fan the flames, and heavy rains have created "new challenges," Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said. "There's no longer that foliage holding everything together, so we're experiencing small rockslides and mudslides as we have to go back into areas we previously thought were accessible."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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