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Inside The Inferno: An Eyewitness Account

Brandon Reese

Credit Brandon Reese

Late Monday night, photojournalist Brandon Reese and his colleague Megan Johnson Brown, made a risky decision. They headed into the teeth of the fire burning sections of Gatlinburg. They made it out safely, but not before indelible images were grilled into their minds. In this first-person account, Brandon Reese describes some of what they saw.

Copyright 2016 WUOT

Brandon is WUOT’s news director. In that role, he oversees the station's daily news operations and special projects. He also hosts Dialogue and produces the biweekly series HealthConnections. For nine years (2010-2019) he was WUOT's local All Things Considered host. From 2008 to 2010, he hosted Morning Edition on Alabama Public Radio. For two years before that he served as an APR bureau correspondent and Morning Edition anchor at WLJS-FM in Jacksonville, Ala.