SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. — Nearly seven years after the Gatlinburg wildfires, wounds stay open for firefighters on the scene.
"Seeing that town, that area in flames — it really set the tone for what I needed to do to protect my community," said Tony Watson, the Pigeon Forge Fire Chief.
Watson said he called his wife and asked her to pray for him and his crews, as they battled the fire in 2016.
"There were 14 dead and 180 injured," Watson said. "We pray for those families."
Seymour volunteer firefighter Bryson Dykes said he was dispatched to the Park Vista Hotel, to help protect that structure.
"I just remember being very smoky," Dykes said. "You could barely see the mountains."
As the crews waited, Dykes said he didn't know what was coming.
"It hit the mountaintop we were on and enveloped everything around us in seconds," Dykes said. "That's when I started realizing, 'Oh this is bad. This is really bad.'"
Dykes said he and his teammate were told to leave their spot by the hotel, but he couldn't see the road.
"I was trying to drive the road by memory," Dykes said.
He crashed the truck and was forced to run down until he saw another crew from the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department.
"We all squeezed into the cab and got out of there," Dykes said. "If it wasn't for who we were with, I don't think we would have gotten out unscathed."
That night, Dykes said he ended up in the emergency room, but he was grateful no firefighter was injured.
"I don't know how we didn't lose any firemen that night," Dykes said.
Both Dykes and Watson said they took lessons from the Gatlinburg wildfire, which were helpful during the Wears Valley fires of 2022.