Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Smoky Mountains Burning

By Douglas V. Gibbs
AuthorSpeakerInstructorRadio Host

Smoky Mountain residents, as they flee the wildfires burning through over 100 homes, and displacing thousands of people, are calling the burning of the Smoky Mountains "the apocalypse."  In a sense, they may be correct.  Do we truly know what started the wildfires in the moist Smoky Mountains that almost never burn?  Could it be copycat terrorism?  After all, Islamic terrorists are using wildfires as a form of jihad against Israel.

More than 14,000 people have been forced to evacuate.

Hundreds of structures have been damaged and destroyed by the fire which is the worse to hit the area in decades.

Storms approaching the the nearly 28,000-acre Rough Ridge Fire in north Georgia and the nearly 25,000-acre Rock Mountain Fire burning on both sides of the Georgia-North Carolina line have signaled some hope for firefighters.

It is believed that a small fire started on purpose in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at the weekend may have been the trigger for the huge blazes.

The fire easily spread due to weeks of punishing drought in the South along with unseasonably warm temperatures.

Rainfall has also been between 10 to 15 inches below normal over the past three months, leading to a dry and arid landscape.

Meanwhile gusting winds have also allowed the fire to spread rapidly.

Forecasters say the area is due to be hit by a strong storm system, bringing with it much needed rain.

The Division of Forestry reported on Sunday that the majority of wildfires in the area were completely contained as authorities were expecting a reprieve from the tinderbox conditions on Monday and Tuesday where more than two inches of rain were predicted to fall.

Unfortunately, the rain failed to fall, and strong winds have the flames spreading across private property.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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