Toll rises in deadliest US wildfire in over 100 years

Authorities are opening a probe into the handling of the devastating wildfires. Pic/AP

As the death toll from a wildfire that razed a historic Maui town reached 93, authorities warned Saturday that the effort to find and identify the dead was still in its early stages. It's already the deadliest US wildfire for over a century.

Crews with cadaver dogs have covered just 3 per cent of the search area, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said. "We've got an area that we have to contain that is at least 5 square miles and it is full of our loved ones," noting that the death toll is likely to grow.

He spoke as federal emergency workers picked through the ashen moonscape left by the fire that razed the centuries-old town of Lahaina. Teams marked the ruins of homes with a bright orange X and HR when they found human remains.

Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging because "we pick up the remains and they fall apart... When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we're finding is through a fire that melted metal". Two people have been identified so far. Dogs worked the rubble, and their occasional bark - used to alert their handlers to a possible corpse - echoed over the hot and colorless landscape.

"It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced," Gov. Josh Green remarked on Saturday as he toured the historic Front Street. "We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding."

At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Green said, of which 86% were residential. Across the island, he added, damage was estimated at close to $6 billion. He said it would take "an incredible amount of time to recover".

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