Local officials provided the following updates:

• To date, there are 13 confirmed fatalities. The following individuals have been newly identified: Edward Taylor, 85, unknown address; Bradley Phillips, 59, discovered at 412 Long Hollow Road; and Constance Reed, 34, Chloe Reed, 12, and Lily Reed, 9, discovered at 347 Wiley Oakley Drive.
• To date there have been 100 people who sustained injuries related to the fire and were treated at LeConte Medical Center.
• 1,413 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the fire.
• There are currently 19 crews, 47 engines, six helicopters, five dozers, 605 total personnel fighting the Chimney Top 2 Fire as a part of the Type 1 Federal Incident Management Team.
• The evacuated areas in Gatlinburg are open for access each day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the checkpoint at Gatlinburg City Hall via East Parkway (Highway 321) and Glades Road. This restriction shall remain in effect until the city reopens for the general public.
• The curfew remains in effect from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. nightly.
• The Spur parkway is open only from Pigeon Forge to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center. There will be no access to Wiley Oakley from the Spur.
• Wiley Oakley Drive and Greystone Heights Road remain inaccessible due to critical utility work. Emergency crews are working to open it as soon as possible.
• The Water Boil Advisory is still in effect for Gatlinburg, with the exception of the areas east of City Hall.

Officials worked diligently to coordinate the warning to the public before and during the catastrophic wildfire event that impacted Gatlinburg, other communities in Sevier County, and the park, authorities said in the release.

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Throughout the day on Monday, Nov. 28, they sent media releases, used social media, and held media briefings to alert the public about the status of the fire to help people remain aware of the urgency of the continuously evolving situation, the release continued.

Authorities sent notifications to the public through widespread media coverage beginning with multiple news releases from the park beginning at approximately 10 a.m., regular news briefings beginning at 2 p.m., and the downtown Gatlinburg siren alert system to warn the public about the impending dangerous winds and fire threat.

Officials also made door-to-door notifications, beginning at noon, to affected communities. Throughout the day, the command post was in contact with state emergency agencies about emergency response.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., the command post contacted the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) requesting an Emergency Alert System (EAS) evacuation message be sent to the Gatlinburg area through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a system which has the capability of sending text messages to mobile devices.

However, communication between the agencies was interrupted due to disabled phone, internet and electrical services. Due to this communication failure, the emergency notification was not delivered as planned through IPAWS as an EAS message or as a text message to mobile devices.

At the same time, the National Weather Service was unable to reach the local command post.

Through collaboration with the Sevier County Dispatch, they were able to deliver the mandatory evacuation alert through an EAS message to radio and television only. Once communications were reestablished, TEMA was able to send a mobile message later in the evening via IPAWS asking Sevier County residents to stay off mobile devices except for emergency use.

Despite the catastrophic events that created barriers to communication, officials used all resources available to them at the time to warn the public of the impending threat, authorities said in the release.