Police in California say a boy who was playing with matches has confessed to starting one of the wild fires that ravaged part of the state last week.

Firefighters tightened their grip on California's wildfires with the help of cooler weather, but a threat remained of health hazards from choking plumes of smoke over the region.

As California struggles to extinguish some of the state's most devastating forest fires, it has turned to a record number of prisoners for some of the most demanding work.

HP announced that the Hewlett-Packard Company Foundation has made a grant of $2 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for the Southern California wildfires.

In response to the Southern California wildfires, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced mobilized resources for the anticipated largest customer-support and infrastructure-restoration effort in AT&T's California history.

Residents of southern California have begun returning to their homes as emergency crews gradually bring under control many of the bushfires that have devastated the region.

Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today announced that the Company has committed $1.5 million to support relief and recovery efforts after this week's devastating wildfires in San Diego County.

1,000,000 flee homes in California due to wildfires; over 500,000 ordered to evacuate

The catastrophic fires that are sweeping Southern California are consistent with what climate change models have been predicting for years, experts say, and they may be just a prelude to many more such events in the future – as vegetation grows heavier than usual and then ignites during prolonged drought periods.

President George W. Bush signed a major disaster declaration. The federal money will be sent to people, devastated by the California wildfires, whose property losses are not covered by insurance.

Firefighters from across the western United States continue efforts to contain massive wildfires in southern California. Forecasters say the strong winds, commonly known as the Santa Ana winds, which have been gusting at speeds of nearly 100 kilometers an hour, should begin letting up later Wednesday, giving firefighters a better chance at putting out the fires.

Towering wildfires burning out of control across southern California have claimed the lives of at least five people, three of them elderly evacuees from the San Diego area.