The wildfire, officials said, was started after the four were smoking on a hiking trail at the state park and did not put out their cigarettes. Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said the group of teenage hikers’ alleged action has cut short efforts to locate Womacks.

South Carolina Forestry Commission agents made the arrests Tuesday in the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires, the state's largest-ever

The Table Rock State Park fire in South Carolina has burned more than 15,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Upstate history.