More than 100 students, parents and teachers from Rhea County, Tenn., were among the thousands evacuated Monday night from areas in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park threatened by wildfires as high winds fanned the flames and spread the blaze.
Officials said 89 students and 12 adults from Frazier Elementary School and Spring City Elementary School left on a three-day school field trip Monday to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont in Blount County.
But as the strong storm system whipped ongoing brush fires into a frenzy near Gatlinburg, officials at the institute decided it was time to make a getaway.
“Just out of an abundance of caution they were evacuated to Maryville, where they were met by their buses from their home school district,” Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont CEO Jennifer Jones said Tuesday.
“Everyone was in good spirits, and at no time did we see flames near Tremont. And I’m not aware of any fires that have been on our campus,” Jones said. The institute and that part of the national park in Blount County had no visible fires overnight, she said.