The death toll from Maui’s wildfires is now at 96 and is expected to rise as specialist search teams comb through Maui’s scorched ruins for human remains.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency teams in Lahaina are using trained canines to scout many areas, but even the dogs are finding conditions difficult because of the heat, Administrator Deanne Criswell told CBS News.
The FEMA chief described the damaged region as something like “a scene from an apocalyptic movie.”
Officials have said the wildfires that erupted on the Hawaii island of Maui on August to 8 have become the deadliest natural disaster in state history.
The blazes spread rapidly due to very dry conditions stemming from a drought combined with powerful winds.
Much of the historic town of Lahaina has been “destroyed,” officials said, and the inferno has burned thousands of residential and commercial buildings to the ground.
