Two juveniles charged with arson in Tennessee wildfires

(Reuters) - Two juveniles have been arrested and charged with arson in connection with deadly Tennessee wildfires that broke out last in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, state officials said on Wednesday. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine declined to release details about the juveniles because of their ages and the ongoing investigation. Fourteen people died in the fires, which have damaged and destroyed more than 1,750 structures, local and federal authorities said in a statement. It was the highest death toll from wildfires in the United States since 2013, when 19 firefighters died near Prescott, Arizona. "Our promise is that we will do our very best to help bring closure to those who have lost so much," Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said in a statement. The largest of the blazes, the so-called Chimney Tops 2, broke out on Nov. 23 in a remote rugged area dubbed Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, authorities said. Fed by drought-parched brush and trees and stoked by fierce winds, the flames quickly spread, turning into an inferno that roared out of the park. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses. A large amount of the damage was in Gatlinburg, known as the "gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains," in eastern Tennessee, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Knoxville. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles)