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'DIFFICULT MISSION'
Hawaii fire death toll rises to 106 with haunting request made to victims’ families as mobile morgues brought in to Maui
THE death toll in Maui has risen to 106 as first responders sift through what's left of a Hawaiian town turned to ash by wildfires.
Mobile morgues have been brought in and families of the missing were asked to submit DNA as crews work to identify the mounting number of bodies found on the island.
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“We are heartsick that we’ve had such loss,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green said while announcing the new deaths on Tuesday night.
Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, became the first fire victims to be publicly identified by authorities hours later with additional names expected to start being released.
The first confirmed identifications came as about 1,000 people, including children, are still missing.
Firefighters are working around the clock to put out the rest of the flames in what became the deadliest US wildfire in modern history.
The governor previously said that he fears the death toll will double by next week.
"We are prepared for many tragic stories. They will find 10 to 20 people per day, probably, until they finish. And it’s probably going to take 10 days," Green said on Monday.
"It’s impossible to guess, really."
Inspectors and cadaver dogs are searching Lahaina, the historic town of 13,000 where the fire started on August 8.
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Flames are 85 percent contained after they destroyed almost all buildings in the area.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has deployed a team of coroners, pathologists, and technicians, along with exam tables, X-ray units, and other equipment used to help identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, deputy assistant secretary of response.
"It’s going to be a very, very difficult mission," he said.
"And patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims."
It's unclear exactly how many people are unaccounted for due to gaps in communication, the governor said.
"A lot of people had to run and left all they had behind. They don’t have their phones – the phones are incinerated," he said.
TOWN TURNED TO ASH
The governor described flames racing as fast as a mile a minute as they were fanned by strong winds from a nearby hurricane and fueled by dry grass.
Kekoa Lansford, a Lahaina resident, helped rescue victims as the fire spread.
He is collecting stories from survivors to create a timeline of the fire and response.
“You ever seen hell in the movies?" he said in an interview with the .
"That is what it looked like. Fire everywhere. Dead people.”
In the week since the blaze first tore through the city, survivors have been forced to flee to shelters and hotels as donations of food, ice, water, and other necessities are being delivered.
Crews and cadaver dogs have combed through 32 percent of the area devastated by the fires.
Green asked for patience after authorities became overwhelmed with requests to visit the burn area.
DAUNTING TASK
So far, only three bodies have been identified, said Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, who asked families with missing relatives to provide DNA samples.
Forty-one samples have been submitted and 13 DNA profiles have been obtained from remains, state officials said.
Pelletier said in a news conference that he hopes searchers will have covered 85 to 90 percent of the area by the weekend.
"We started with one dog. We are at 20," he said.
"We can only move as fast as we can, but we got the right amount of workers and teams doing it."
The cause of the deadly blaze is still under investigation.
President Joe Biden addressed the devastating fires on Tuesday night, saying that he and First Lady Jill Biden would visit Hawaii as soon as they could but didn't want to interrupt rescue efforts.
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The president has said that he will deploy every asset he can to ensure the state has everything it needs.
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