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Months after wildfires tore through Los Angeles communities, officials announced this week they had discovered another set of human remains, bringing the death toll in the disaster up to 30.
Investigators were dispatched to Altadena on Wednesday to investigate possible human remains in the community, which was hit hard by the Eaton fire in January. The special operations response team confirmed that the remains were human, the Los Angeles county medical examiner’s office said in a statement.
The discovery this week brings the death toll from the Eaton fire up to 18, according to the statement, while 12 people were killed in the Palisades fire. The remains were the first death reported by the office since 25 January when the office announced that Hak Wong, 69, had died in the hospital.
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In January, hurricane-force winds that pummeled the area for days helped create raging conflagrations across Los Angeles from Altadena to the Pacific Palisades that would become among the worst wildfires in California history. The fires forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in the region and within days laid waste to 60sq miles (97sq km) and destroyed nearly 17,000 structures.
The city is continuing to reckon with the aftermath of the blazes and rebuilding is expected to take years. Meanwhile, several victims from January’s wildfires are still unidentified.
Identifying remains from the fires relies on “complex scientific methods”, the medical examiner’s office said, including comparisons using dental records and DNA and the use of radiographs to find any medical prosthetics or devices that might have serial numbers.
“The DME also works with law enforcement agencies to gather information on suspected missing persons to conduct follow-up with families,” the statement said. “Due to the complexity of these methods and the process, it can take considerable time to confirm a decedent’s identity in these types of cases.”
