California wildfires - live: Firefighters tackle new Woolsey blaze as deadly Camp Fire spreads

Search teams have recovered the remains of 42 people killed by a devastating wildfire in northern California, marking the greatest loss of life from such a blaze in state history.

The latest death toll, up from 29 tallied over the weekend, was announced by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea at an evening news conference after authorities found the bodies of 13 more victims of the devastating blaze dubbed the Camp Fire.

The fire already ranked as the most destructive on record in California in terms of property losses, having consumed more than 7,100 homes and other structures since igniting on Thursday in Butte County's Sierra foothills, about 175 miles (280km) north of San Francisco.

Authorities have made it clear that they are bracing for the number of fatalities to climb. 

In addition to 13 coroner-led recovery teams working in the fire zone, 150 search-and-recovery personnel were due to arrive on Tuesday, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said.

The sheriff said he had also has requested three portable morgue teams from the US military, a "disaster mortuary" crew and an unspecified number of cadaver dog units to assist in the search for human remains.

Three groups of forensic anthropologists were also called in to help, he said.

The bulk of the destruction and loss of life occurred in and around the town of Paradise, where flames reduced most of the buildings to ash and rubble on Thursday night, just hours after the blaze erupted.

Around 52,000 people remained under evacuation orders, Sheriff Kory Honea said.

The 42 confirmed fatalities marked the highest death toll in history from a single California wildfire, Mr Honea said, far surpassing the previous record of 29 lives lost in 1933 from the Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles.

Authorities reported two more people perished over the weekend in a separate blaze, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, that has destroyed 435 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near Southern California's Malibu coast, west of Los Angeles.

Donald Trump, who drew criticism over the weekend for erroneously blaming the fires on "gross mismanagement" of forests, approved a request from California's governor, Jerry Brown, for a major disaster declaration on Monday.

The measure hastens availability of federal emergency aid to fire-stricken regions of the state.

Perilous winds that stoked the fire through drought-parched brush and chaparral abated on Saturday, giving firefighters a chance to gain some ground against the flames.

High winds returned on Sunday but fell again Monday morning, with crews managing to carve containment lines around 30 per cent of the Camp Fire perimeter, an area encompassing 117,000 acres of scorched, smoldering terrain.

The Woolsey Fire has blackened nearly 94,000 acres and was also 30 per cent contained as of Monday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

Winds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 km per hour) were expected to continue in Southern California through Tuesday, heightening the risk of fresh blazes ignited by scattered embers.

CalFire said 57,000 structures were still in harm's way from the Woolsey Fire.

Forecasts called for winds to pick up again Monday night in Butte County, though with less force than previous days, National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun told reporters.

Coroner search teams, many accompanied by a chaplain, have fanned out across Paradise, visiting dozens of addresses that belong to people reported missing since last week's explosive blaze leveled the town of 27,000.

Authorities were also bringing more resources in to find the dead - two mobile morgue units and dozens of additional search and rescue personnel.