Steve Ahillen, and Tyler Whetstone

Knoxville News Sentinel

Small fires are cropping up throughout East Tennessee as the combination of drought and heat is making it an ideal situation for blazes.

"Just ask people to be careful," said Nathan Waters, state of Tennessee assistant district forester. "It's really, really dry right now."

Waters said crews have been battling fires in several counties. The most severe is near Stony Fork in Campbell County where a fire threatened three homes and damaged a shed earlier Saturday afternoon before being controlled.

He said there were fires reported in Blount County and Hancock County, as well as near Chimney Tops in the Smoky Mountains.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, officials are considering banning fires in the backcountry, which hasn't happened since 2007, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said.

Crews are working to keep two fires in the Polk County area of the Cherokee National Forest under control.

Terry McDonald of the National Forest Service office in Cleveland said the fires are clouding the skies.

“There are numerous fires in surrounding counties and in North Carolina and north Georgia that are putting up smoke,” McDonald said. “Valley areas are reporting seeing and smelling smoke. The combination of all the fires is where the smoke is coming from.”

A long-burning fire at Rattlesnake Hollow has been contained within established fire control lines for an area covering 200 acres. The fire was detected Oct. 23 and is located in the Rock Creek Gorge on the southeast side of Chilhowee Mountain.

The cause of the fire is unknown, according to an NPS news release, and no structures have been threatened.

A fire in the Wolf Creek area was detected Oct. 29 and is located off McFarland Road near Turtletown. The fire has burned 115 acres.

Because of the steep terrain and extremely dry conditions, firefighters are working to keep the fire within a control perimeter of 400 acres using natural features, roads and fire lines.

A fire in Fannin County, Ga., which touches the Tennessee and North Carolina State lines, is burning more than 1,200 acres in the Cohutta Wilderness. According to a story on the Chattanooga Times Free Press website, the fire is expected to burn for several weeks.

Fire restrictions were placed on the entire Cherokee National Forest on Oct. 29 because of the ongoing drought, which has rainfall in the Chattanooga area 16 inches below its average for January through October. These restrictions include not allowing building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire or charcoal fire outside of developed recreational areas.

Cherokee National Forest is located in two sections north and south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line.

The Knoxville area is six inches off its rainfall average for January through October.