A plume of smoke rises in the distance as firefighters look

A plume of smoke rises in the distance as firefighters look on from a staging area at Mt. Wilson, Calif., Wednesday. Firefighters made more progress against a giant wildfire that has ravaged a national forest north of Los Angeles as investigators said the blaze was human-caused and officials began letting more people back into their homes. Officials are still trying to figure out what set off the blaze in the Angeles National Forest that had burned nearly 219 square miles, or 140,150 acres.

AP PHOTO