A wildfire that burned down several buildings at California’s Westmont College last week was ignited by embers from a bonfire built by college-age students, the Santa Barbara County sheriff told the Los Angeles Times, but he did not identify the students or the institution they attended.

Sheriff Bill Brown said a group of 10 young adults had built the bonfire at an abandoned property called the Teahouse late last Wednesday night and thought it had gone out when they left the area early Thursday. But strong winds whipped the embers into a fast-moving wildfire that destroyed 210 homes, including those of 14 faculty members on Westmont’s campus, which sits just below the ridge where the fire began. Two dormitories also were destroyed, and another two dorms were damaged.

Investigators do not believe that the students intended to start a wildfire, the sheriff said, but they could face charges of negligence or recklessness with fire.

A spokeswoman for Westmont told the Times that college officials did not believe any of their students were involved. In a statement on its Web site, the college said: “We have been working closely with the investigators and at no time have they implicated any of our Westmont students.” Several other colleges and universities are close by.

Westmont is still largely shut down because of the fire damage. Students were allowed to return to some campus buildings on Tuesday to retrieve belongings, and classes are scheduled to resume on December 1. —Charles Huckabee