Identifying victims of the Maui wildfire will be a challenging task. Here’s what it entails

By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials face a formidable challenge identifying the remains of more than 100 victims of the Maui blaze as agonized loved ones yearn for information on those missing after the United States’ deadliest wildfire in more than a century. It’s a painstaking process, and a roster of communities have endured it after disasters and mass casualties. The advent of DNA technology and subsequent advances have provided powerful tools. But finding remains, zeroing in on genetic material or other clues and amassing the information needed to match them to still takes time.