Guests Trapped Inside Burning Hilton Hotel As Wildfire Engulfs Tennessee Resort Of Gatlinburg

*Dollywood has been evacuated and tourists are fleeing the area as wildfires rip through Eastern Tennessee

*Terrifying video shot from the Gatlinburg Park Vista Hilton Hotel shows flames just outside the windows
  
* Witnesses report that dozens of people are still trapped inside the hotel which is surrounded by flames
  
*Hotel guest Logan Baker, who is staying at the Hilton with his family, said that the 16-story building began

Terrified guests are trapped inside a burning Hilton hotel as a huge wildfire engulfs Tennessee resort towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
Dollywood theme park has been evacuated as thousands of tourists and residents fled the Great Smoky Mountains amidst reports of cars bursting into flames, dozens of homes being engulfed by fire, and the sky turning brown with smoke and flames.

Motorists clogged the roads after the Gatlinburg Fire Department ordered the mandatory evacuation of the town at just after 6pm on Monday, as strong wind conditions fanned the flames making the fire increasingly unpredictable and dangerous.

Terrifying video shot from the Gatlinburg Park Vista Hilton Hotel appeared to show flames just outside the windows, as guests huddled together inside.

Witnesses report that dozens of people are still trapped inside the hotel which is surrounded by flames.

No deaths have been reported. 

Hotel guest Logan Baker, who is staying at the Hilton with his family, said that the 16-story building began filling with smoke as fire came up and into the parking lot.

'The only road to get down from the hotel, trees had fallen down in the road and were just engulfed in flames,' he told ABC affiliate Wate, in a phone call from the hotel. 'Then the flames came up into the parking lot and then told us we all had stay inside.'

Baker it was difficult to breathe as smoke and embers came into the hotel through faulty emergency doors. Eventually firefighters were able to barricade the doors as guests opened out the top floor windows to let the smoke escape.

So far, it's still too dangerous for the guests to leave.


'Firefighters told us for the time being it's just too dangerous to evacuate,' said Baker. 'We can't go outside. The firefighters said the wind is blowing at 80 miles per hour and the debris in the air is too hard to get us down right now.'

A nearby apartment complex was completely engulfed by flames, authorities report.  

The wildfire set 30 buildings ablaze there and was at the edge of Dollywood, Dolly Parton's theme park, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener said in a news release.

Staff at the park, based in the neighboring mountain town Pigeon Forge, had pitched in to help firefighters keep flames from threatening the resort. Dollywood released a statement late on Monday stating that so far, no damage has been reported, although some hotel guests were evacuated.

 Video shot this evening and posted on Facebook reveals how close the flames are to the hotel which guests say was filled with smoke and embers until firefighters were able to barricade the doors.

(The sky) was brown,' Pigeon Forge resident Katie Brittian told Knox News. 'Ash has been falling from the sky since 3om'

Sharon Pinyan said that at she was evacuated from Gatlinburg, 'A car behind us caught on fire due to the flames jumping the road.'

Sara Gentry, of Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, said that herself, and her four children, were able to go to her sister's home in Dandridge after they were evacuated.

But she says friends of hers have watched their homes own homes get destroyed by the fire.

'This one girl was driving down Ski Mountain (Road) and watching her home burn,' Gentry said. 'My kids' friends have lost their homes. It's just awful.'

Others report wooden cabins ablaze and some properties literally exploded in flames, witnesses say.