SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. — A total of five fire-fighting vehicles were lost while responding to the Wears Valley wildfire.
The Sevier County Fire Department said it lost its only tanker truck.
In a post on social media, the department said around 11 a.m. on Wednesday it was "dispatched mutual aid" to the brush fire that would become the Hatcher Mountain Fire in Wears Valley. It responded with a Tanker and Wildland unit.
According to the department, units arrived on the scene and immediately went to work on structure protection and evacuations. Crews were working extremely hard under terrible fire conditions with multiple structures threatened.
The post said Tanker 111 was assigned to the top of Hatcher Mountain, and at a point during the firefight, the fire became extremely erratic due to dangerously high winds and extremely low humidity.
According to the department, the fire began to make a push up the mountain directly at Tanker 111's location. Crews were overtaken by fire and had to evacuate the area.
The department said it lost Tanker 111, but no one was injured.
"Tanker 111 was our only tanker apparatus so this is a big hit to our fleet. However, the more important part was that our member returned home to us unharmed. Trucks are replaceable, people are not," it said in the post.
Another station that lost a truck was Pittman Center Volunteer Fire Department. This department is smaller and had fewer trucks to begin with. The Chief of the department, Leonard Riggins said it "hurts" to lose one of their main engines.
Riggins launched a GoFundMe to help get a new truck. He anticipated insurance will cover some of it, but not everything necessary to get a new truck.
"Trucks can be replaced, but nothing could ever replace our loved ones. We do have insurance on the fire trucks and all the equipment on them. In today's prices, everything has gone up, and the cost of a new fire truck and equipment is no different, but we will survive and continue our services as we always have," Higgins said.
The Wears Valley Fire Department also lost a truck- Wildland 86. Northview-Kodak Fire Department also lost a truck- Engine 44.
The post said the incident was a very close call and the department prays it will never have to endure it again. It also thanked the citizens for "all the prayers and support" and the other responding agencies for getting its crew member back safe.