ATLANTA, Safar 11, 1438, Nov 11, 2016, SPA -- At least 20 wildfires in North Carolina are being investigated as suspected arson, officials said, as firefighters from across the country focused a pocket of fires in the bone-dry southern Appalachian mountains, AP reported. A division of the U.S. Forest Service said fires have been burning on more than 25 square miles in the Nantahala National Forest in the western part of North Carolina. Across the South, relentless drought has turned pine trees into matchsticks and forced people from their homes in dozens of communities. More than 5,000 firefighters and support staff from around the nation are trying to suppress these fires, said Shardul Raval, director of fire and aviation management for the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service. The effort includes about 40 aircraft, including three large air tankers flying out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Tens of thousands of acres of forest have burned and about a dozen of the largest fires were uncontained, the forest service said. High winds and temperatures and weeks without rain have combined to spark blaze after blaze in the unusually dry landscape. Numerous teams reported wind-driven fires racing up slopes and down ravines as they struggled to protect hundreds of threatened structures. -- SPA 20:00 LOCAL TIME 17:00 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w267753