The announcement came after more than 1,000 firefighters battled the blaze for weeks and heavy rains helped douse flames in recent days.
“We’re confident that it’s not going to move out of the containment lines,” said Jennifer Erickson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
The fire was contained, but it wasn’t completely out, with sections still smoldering.
“There definitely are areas of smoke that probably will be going for a while,” Ms. Erickson said.
The Camp Fire, ignited Nov. 8 in Northern California’s Butte County, spread quickly through dry forests and was fanned by strong winds. The fire’s cause is under investigation, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
In addition to people killed, three firefighters were injured, according to Cal Fire. The fire destroyed almost 14,000 homes, more than 500 businesses and about 4,300 other buildings. It burned about 153,000 acres.
By Sunday afternoon, officials couldn’t account for 267 people, said Butte County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Miranda Bowersox. She said more than 500 people were searching burned areas to find remains or clues as to what happened to those who are still missing.
Many of those missing are from Paradise, a town of about 27,000 people that was devastated by the fire.
The heavy rains that hit California helped firefighters contain the flames, especially in hard-to-reach steep areas, according to Ms. Erickson. But the rains also raised concerns about possible flash flooding on the burned-over ground, according to the National Weather Service.
California has been grappling with several severe fires in recent weeks, including the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles, which started the same day as the Camp Fire.
The Woolsey Fire, which was contained Nov. 21, killed at least three people and forced the evacuation of about 295,000 others. It destroyed about 97,000 acres.
Another risk now for fire-ravaged parts of the state: mudslides. The one-two punch of fire and mudslides is a common occurrence in California, where hills stripped of grass and other vegetation by flames in the fall are less able to soak up the winter rains that follow.
Last January, about a month after a rash of wildfires torched hillsides throughout Southern California, torrential rains prompted mass evacuations and, in some parts, devastating mudslides. In and around Montecito, in Santa Barbara County, at least 15 were killed and 25 injured in mudslides.