Workers clear debris from California wildfire, 17 Nov 2008

Firefighters in the U.S. state of California have contained two of three wildfires that have burned across the southern part of the state over the past week.

At the latest update Wednesday, authorities said firefighters were close to containing the last fire in Los Angeles County.

Collectively, the three wildfires have destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and burned more than 17,000 hectares of land.

Authorities say a group of college students may have accidentally started one of the fires.

A local sheriff said 10 students last week gathered at an abandoned property on a hilltop near the city of Santa Barbara and lit a bonfire that they failed to extinguish completely. The next day, strong winds intensified the fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes and burned some 785 hectares of land.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.