"More than 200 people have been hospitalized with breathing difficulties in Tennessee as wildfires scorched the Southeast.

Over 30 large fires have burned more than 80,000 acres in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service.

"Dry weather, high winds and the continuing drought is driving the large growth of fires," Dave Martin of the US Forest Service's Southern Region said earlier this week. And because the fires are spread over several states, agencies' resources are being depleted, he added."

Madison Park and Chandrika Narayan report for CNN November 16, 2016. [2]