Maui wildfires death toll rises to 111 as crews search the burn area, many dealing with their own losses

CNN
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A growing army of hundreds combing through the burned ruins on Maui – including many dealing with losses themselves – have searched over a third of the wildfire burn areas, Maui authorities said, warning the death toll will likely continue climbing.

So far, at least 111 deaths have been confirmed in the wildfires, according to a release from Maui County.

“This is unprecedented. No one has ever seen this that is alive today – not this size, not this number, not this volume,” Maui Police chief John Pelletier said. “And we’re not done.”

“Realize that the responders that are going out there are recovering their loved ones and members of their families,” Pelletier said.

About 38% of the burn zone had been searched as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Pelletier. Authorities were hoping to have covered much of the burn scars by the weekend.

The search through the ashes of what used to be homes, business and historic landmarks is a difficult one, and identifying those lost won’t be easy as the remains are largely unrecognizable and fingerprints are rarely being found, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said.

Complicating matters is that it remains unclear how many people are still unaccounted for as the search continues more than a week after the fires began and spread erratically, engulfing thousands of homes on the island.

The governor told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Wednesday that “probably still over 1,000” people are unaccounted for. Authorities have said it’s difficult to say exactly how many are missing and how many hadn’t made contact due to telecommunications gaps.

As families desperately wait to learn whether their loved ones are among the dead, the police chief asked for patience as a genetics team is brought in and work continues, “so that we can make sure that we’re finding who our loved ones are, and that we make the notifications with dignity and honor.”

Meanwhile, authorities have been asking family members of missing people to provide DNA samples to help with the identification effort. As of Tuesday, people searching for answers had provided 41 DNA samples, according to county officials.

Brenda Keau told CNN her husband provided authorities with a DNA sample to help find his 83-year-old mother.

The couple knew the woman may be among those who died in the fire when they found her home in hard-hit Lahaina burned to the ground, she said.

“We accepted it on the day that we saw that there was no house, but you never give up hope,” Keau said.

The search mission through the burn areas has expanded over the past week, with 40 canines coming in from 15 different states to help search through the ruins, Jeff Hickman of the Hawaii Department of Defense told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“We’ll start to bring closure to those who need it and identify those missing,” Hickman said. “There’s assistance centers helping those who are missing, there’s civilian lists going around and DNA being collected to help make the match and help people find those who are still missing.”

Here’s the latest on what’s happening on Maui: