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Ground Zero fires extinguished

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than three months after two hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers, firefighters Wednesday extinguished the fires in the rubble now known as Ground Zero.

"We have stopped putting water on them and there is no smoking," said Chief Brian Dixon of the New York Fire Department.

Firefighters remained on the scene -- where almost 3,000 people are believed to have died in the September 11 attacks -- in case cleanup crews uncover other hot spots.

Workers have removed more than 710,000 tons of debris and more than 135,000 tons of building steel from the site.

Officials put the total number of dead in the attack at 2,992.

The Office of Emergency Management said 550 people are confirmed dead, 484 people are listed as missing with no death certificates issued, and 1,958 death certificates have been issued for victims whose remains have not yet been identified.

It was initially estimated that as many as 6,500 were killed when two hijacked jetliners crashed into the twin towers 17 minutes apart.

The toll has been steadily shrinking since then for a variety of reasons, including duplicate reports and confusion in the hours and days immediately following the attack.