Image Credit: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 
Only two victims of the 96 found so far after the Hawaii wildfires were able to be identified, and at least 1,000 more are missing, according to officials.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier in a news conference Saturday explained that the intense heat of the wildfire in Maui, which “melted metal”, has made the task of identification more difficult and that some remains were falling apart as officials tried to collect them.
“We have to do rapid DNA to identify them,” Pelletier told reporters.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier came to Hawaii after 22 years in Las Vegas. He was incident commander for the 2017 mass shooting that left over 50 dead. Here he tells @CNN why only two bodies have been identified out of the 68 dead on Maui. #mauifires #maui #hawaii pic.twitter.com/FVxxWn0pGX
— Ryan Kawailani Ozawa (@hawaii) August 13, 2023
“We pick up the remains and they fall apart, and so when you have 200 people running through the scene yesterday…that’s what you’re stepping on.”
About a dozen search dogs are being used to find remains, but they have only combed through 3% of the fire zone so far, he said.
“Give us a little bit of time to contain that,” Pelletier pleaded at the news conference. “None of us really knows the size of this yet. Everyone wants a number.”
“Every one of those [victims] are John and Jane Does. We know we have got to go quick, but we have got to do it right,” he added.
VIDEO:
Hawaii wildfires: Aerial images of Lahaina, burnt to ashes
The charred remains of houses and cars are seen in the city of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, after the deadliest fires ever to hit the region pic.twitter.com/hwkRpgGY5D
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 12, 2023
There’s no official count of the number of people missing but Gov. Josh Green (D-Hawaii) on Thursday put the number at over 1,000 people.
“And here’s the challenge: there’s no power, no Internet, no phone, no radio. You compound some of that. So when we’re speaking to our officers, we need them to get a sat phone. There’s around 1,000 missing. It doesn’t mean that many have passed – I’m not saying that at all – but because we can’t contact them we can’t know,” the Hawaiian governor said.
“When you see the full extent of the destruction in Lahaina, it will shock you. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off, if I may,” he added.
Information coming out of the area is scant amid criticism by residents of warning siren failures and the official response to the island state’s deadliest natural disaster as they struggle with search and recovery in tandem with humanitarian assistance efforts.
Watch the full Maui press conference:
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