Officials in the southern US state of Tennessee are getting a better look at the damage left by an out-of-season bush fire that destroyed a mountain resort, killing at least three people.

The flames sent 14,000 residents and visitors scurrying out of the tourist town of Gatlinburg, in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Country music star Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park and resort escaped unscathed, but "it's the apocalypse" on either side, said Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lieutenant Bobby Balding.  Scores of homes and vacation cottages were damaged or reduced to ashes. 

The unprecedented fire started when embers from a much larger blaze on a neighboring mountain blew into town on strong winds - measured at nearly 90 miles per hour - which quickly fanned the disaster.  "This is a fire for the history books," Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said.  "It's unlike anything we've ever seen," he added.

This is just one of several uncharacteristic bushfires burning in the the US Southeast, which is known for high humidity that usually tempers fires.  The Great Smoky Mountains are actually named for the fog that typically hangs over the peaks, not smoke from burning trees and scrub.  But the region is in the midst of an unseasonable heatwave and a nasty drought, and conditions are less normal than akin to arid California.  Seasonal rains are 30, 60, and even 90 days late in some areas.  Most of the 45 wildfires burning in the US are in the southeast - the number so far this fall is "many, many more than what we normally have," said Chip Konrad, director of the Southeast Regional Climate Center (SERCC).  And the sheer scale of some of them is far larger than is typical for the Appalachians.

While the wildfires can't be directly linked to human induced climate change just yet, they do point to a potentially troubling future.  Record-high temperatures are currently outpacing record lows by more than 2-to-1 across the contiguous US - a recent study suggests that ratio could balloon to 15-to-1 by mid-century if emissions of the greenhouse gases driving global warming aren't curtailed.

As long as temperatures stay above the norm, or get even warmer, the chances of dried out bush and forests are greater than normal - and that means communities and agencies will have to be on greater alert for bushfires.