Washington (AFP) – The number of missing persons following the massive wildfire that leveled a town on the island of Maui last month has fallen from 385 to 66, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said Friday.
Green made the announcement one month after the fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina, the deadliest in the United States for more than a century.
The death toll from the blaze remains at 115 people, but could rise further as a police investigation unfolds, Green said.
The Maui Police Department is investigating the cases of missing persons, Green said, noting that “the numbers are getting sorted out”, causing the reduction.
The high initial numbers of missing stirred fears that the death toll could rise sharply from the blaze, which generated so much heat it melted cars, turned houses to ash and left hazardous waste.
Combing the ruins to hunt for human remains, and collecting DNA samples from relatives of the missing, proved to be an arduous process, authorities said.
Emergency responders have concluded a search of the land burned in the fire but are still searching in the sea, where some residents sought refuge during the blaze.
Green also offered a tally of Lahaina residents displaced by the fire, saying 6,595 people were housed in island hotels while another 1,100 were in Airbnbs.
Within two weeks or so, Green said, “We’re going to move people into long-term housing.”
The Lahaina fire destroyed at least 2,200 structures, mostly homes, causing losses as high as $3 billion, insurance experts say.
