Lawsuit: Knox woman sues Park Vista hotel over Gatlinburg deadly wildfire

A Knox County woman is suing the Park Vista hotel, contending she was trapped with other guests as deadly wildfires raged all around the Gatlinburg hotel and filled it with smoke.

Attorney Kimberly Cambron has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on behalf of Holly Whitsell against the Park Vista on Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg and Hilton Worldwide, which has a franchise agreement with the hotel.

In it, Whitsell contends Park Vista employees downplayed the risk of flames reaching the hotel and didn’t tell guests a voluntary evacuation was underway.

She contends she is now suffering Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome after being trapped inside the hotel for several hours as wildfires claimed 14 lives and destroyed more than 2,500 businesses and homes in and around Gatlinburg last year.

A representative of Park Vista could not be immediately reached Wednesday.

Desk clerk in face mask

The Park Vista is an iconic hotel in Gatlinburg that sits atop a hill at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lawsuit said it is “six miles by car” from the Chimney Tops trail where a fire spotted five days earlier and allowed to burn in hopes it would smother itself out was instead fanned by unprecedented winds.

Whitsell had booked a room at the Park Vista for a two-night stay and arrived at 4 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2016. By then, wind-fueled fires were fast approaching the edges of downtown Gatlinburg and a voluntary evacuation had been announced by the Gatlinburg Fire Department.

She was among several guests checking in that afternoon, the lawsuit stated.

“As Ms. Whitsell entered the lobby, she noticed smoke hanging in the air and voiced her concerns with the desk clerk checking her and the other guests in,” the lawsuit stated. “Specifically, she asked if it was safe to check-in since there was smoke present in the lobby. The desk clerk assured Ms. Whitsell that there was no threat and that the ‘fire was 15 miles away’ and if needed, the hotel would give the guests ‘plenty of time to get out’ if the fire got closer.”

The lawsuit contends Park Vista employees did not tell Whitsell about the voluntary evacuation. But the desk clerk “was wearing a face mask and handed Ms. Whitsell a face mask along with the cookie customarily offered at check-in,” the lawsuit stated.

Whitsell chose to stay. That cookie “would be the only food Ms. Whitsell would have at the Park Vista because shortly thereafter, the smoke and fire caused a shut-down of the restaurants,” the lawsuit stated. Whitsell, according to the legal action, is a diabetic who “needs to eat at regular intervals to maintain her blood sugar levels.”

Lawsuit: Guests huddled in lobby

Whitsell’s room was on the 13th floor. Once in her room, the lawsuit said, Whitsell received a voice mail on her room phone offering a room on a lower level “if it was getting difficult to breathe.”

“Some windows on the higher levels were busted out by firefighters to allow some of the smoke in the hotel to escape,” the lawsuit stated. “Ms. Whitsell was fearful for her life while alone in her hotel room and went back down to the lobby where other guests had congregated.

“Approximately an hour after checking in, Ms. Whitsell and at least 40 other guests, were unable to leave the hotel because the road leading to the hotel had been blocked by fallen trees,” it continued. “Firefighters would not allow anyone to leave because it was unsafe to be outside due to the high winds and the dangerous level of smoke and embers in the air.”

The lawsuit alleged Whitsell and “other guests huddled in the hotel lobby unable to leave and fearing for their lives as the fire got closer and closer to the hotel and the lobby filled with dark, smothering smoke.”

Complete coverage: A look back at deadly wildfires

Whitsell eventually returned – via the stairs – to her 13th floor room, the lawsuit stated.

“Ms. Whitsell stayed in her room crying and terrified that she would die there in the hotel,” the lawsuit stated. “Ms. Whitsell was afraid that if she went to sleep that she would die from smoke inhalation (and) also feared that the she would be trapped in the hotel and die engulfed in flames.”

At 2:30 a.m., firefighters and first responders began rescuing guests from the Park Vista, and Whitsell was among them, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Whitsell was so traumatized she couldn’t eat or sleep and eventually sought help from a therapist for PTSD. It does not list how much in damages Whitsell is seeking.