The wildfires that have roared through southeast Australia for nearly a week were slowly coming under control today, as investigators continued the search for who may have set some of the deadly blazes.
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The Country Fire Authority said the number of fires burning had dropped to 21 from about 35 on Thursday. While "the threat will remain for weeks to come", a spokesman said no towns were under threat today morning and that good weather had allowed firefighters to build containment lines around the fires.

Meanwhile, more than 150 detectives were working on an arson investigation, authorities said.