Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia's coast while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades.
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state's forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time.
Southeastern Georgia has seen just 30cm of rain since the beginning of September — almost 40cm below normal, the National Weather Service said.
The fires spread so quickly in southern Georgia that residents received no warnings or alerts.
Georgia's two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 80 square kilometres, and at least four other smaller fires have been reported in the state.
The fast-moving Brantley County fire was threatening about 1000 homes on Wednesday after destroying almost 50 a day earlier.
Crews were working to create fire breaks and stop flames from reaching populated areas. The biggest concern was the gusting winds that could easily spread embers.
Pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Wednesday for more than half of the state's counties.
More people were told to evacuate Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations that had already taken place in the county.
In Florida, firefighters were battling 131 wildfires that had burned 90 square kilometres, mostly in the state's northern half.
A dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds will keep the fire danger elevated on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
Smoky conditions were expected to linger throughout the Atlanta area on Wednesday. The worst fires were burning more than 320km southeast of the city.
The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.
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