ORLANDO, Fla. -- The wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres in Tennessee have devastated a part of the stats 49ers center Daniel Kilgore said he cherishes.
"It's just a tragedy. It's awful," said Kilgore, who grew up in Kingsport, Tenn., about a 45- minute drive from Gatlinburg, the resort town on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that has been hit hardest by the fire.
"That part of the country is the most beautiful. It's God's country to me," Kilgore said. "Being born and raised in northeast Tennessee, you know about Gatlinburg, you know about Pigeon Forge and the people that work so hard there.