WAILUKU >> Seven more victims were discovered a week after wind-whipped, chaotic wildfires wiped out the town of Lahaina — raising the death toll to 106 on Tuesday.

As the number of deaths continued to climb, the names of the first two victims to be formally identified were released.

Maui County officials said next of kin were notified that Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, both of Lahaina, had perished in what has become the worst U.S. wildfire in over a century..

Three more victims have been officially identified, but their families had yet be notified, the county said.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the families who are beginning to receive notifications about their loved ones,” Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement. “As a community, we offer our prayers of comfort in this most difficult time.”

Tributes poured in from Jantoc’s family and longtime friends on Facebook. The musician lived in the Hale Mahaolu Eono senior complex, where many evacuees have been worried about the fate of the residents.

Gov. Josh Green and other officials have said the community should brace for more casualties, including children.

On Tuesday, a convoy of air-conditioned Matson shipping containers pulled up to the Maui Police Department’s Forensic Facility. Most of the dead in Lahaina were burned beyond recognition but some are clearly children, Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Most of them were left in such a delicate state that they have to be handled carefully to preserve their remains, said Green, a medical doctor.

The bodies of the first to be identified were in better shape and were identified through fingerprints, he said. Green called the search for victims “a race against time” before the remains are further degraded by rains or storms.

Among the dead are seven victims — apparently a family — discovered in a single household, Green said.

Asked about the possibility that tourists were among the victims, Green said his office has not been contacted by anyone looking for visitors to Lahaina who are still missing.

As the death toll continues to increase, Green said, “I’m heartbroken. It’s all about people who had loss.”

About 32 percent of the restricted area in Lahaina has now been searched for bodies, up from 25% Monday.

On Friday, Green expects to announce a date when President Joe Biden plans to tour Lahaina, possibly joined by first lady Jill Biden. Biden has not yet visited because he wants to be respectful of the ongoing search for victims, Green said.

He spoke with the president Tuesday and told Biden that he has applied for 100% reimbursement of federal dollars to cover all costs, compared with the usual 75% at this point in a disaster.

Green expects the costs to ultimately reach into the tens of billions of dollars.

Biden, in Milwaukee, told reporters, “Every asset they need will be there on Maui for them. And we will be there as long as it takes.”

The White House said Biden had been briefed on the recovery efforts by Green and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell on Tuesday.

Later in the day, Green went on his Facebook page to announce that Lahaina Bypass Road would open Tuesday night for West Maui residents, first responders and employees. Starting this morning, the road will open to all motorists daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Access from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will then be limited to residents, first responders and employees in West Maui.

“It was time to open the road and decompress people’s angst,” Green told the Star-Advertiser.

In his YouTube video, Green clarified that an idea he mentioned Monday about a possible moratorium on sales of property damaged or destroyed by the Maui fires was designed to protect vulnerable property owners and not a government attempt to acquire private land.

“This is not ever about the government getting land,” he said. “This is the peoples’ land, and the people will decide what to do with Lahaina.”

On Monday, Green said that he asked state Attorney General Anne Lopez to explore options for a possible moratorium on sales of damaged or destroyed property in an effort to ban out-of-state buyers from preying on fire survivors.

Green said in his Tuesday video address that Maui attorneys have volunteered their time at disaster response centers to provide legal advice to property owners who may have been contacted about buying their damaged or destroyed property.

No specifics of how a moratorium might be applied have been shared, but Green — who has emergency powers — said he will do everything he can to protect local property owners in Lahaina.

“I do want to send this message out to the world: If someone behaves in a predatory fashion towards one of the people that are suffering right now, (people) who lost their loved ones or lost their home or lost their rental and they try to buy land out from under them, you can be sure I will not be allowing anyone to build or rezone or do anything of that sort if they’ve taken advantage of anyone here,” he said. “Rebuilding will be for our local people.”

Outside Maui’s Forensic Facility, federal employees worked around the shipping containers in uniforms marked U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Health and Human Services and Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team.

They brought in more than 22-1/2 tons of supplies and equipment that arrived Tuesday to assist with the processing of human remains.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday said that 1,200 survivors have received just under $2 million in assistance from the agency, including emergency shelter in hotels and other locations.

Keith Turi, FEMA’s deputy associate administrator for response and recovery, pushed back against social media posts urging Lahaina residents not to trust FEMA relief efforts or risk losing their properties.

“Applying assistance for FEMA does not give FEMA any authority or ownership over anyone’s property,” Turi said in a media conference call. “It does not commit any change in ownership or otherwise impact the ownership of property. FEMA assistance is there to support survivors with their immediate needs with their personal property, with their housing repairs. We encourage all survivors to register for assistance.

“We are committed to respecting the deep cultural roots of the community and having resources available in multiple languages,” he said. “We are working hard to make sure that we can combat any misinformation that might be out there on this point, and make sure that it’s crystal clear that there is no risk to your property or to your ownership if you register with FEMA.”

FEMA, so far, has processed $630,000 in critical needs assistance to fire survivors who are eligible for a one-time payment of $700 per household for immediate relief.

Overall, 3,400 people have registered with FEMA for a range of assistance to help with home repairs, replacement of belongings, rent, crisis counseling and other needs, Turi said.

Turi said the number of people applying for aid should rise significantly with the window for registration open for 60 days after an official emergency declaration. Disaster Recovery Centers will be established on Maui in a few days to help fire survivors navigate the various assistance programs and to provide referrals. Locations have yet to be announced.

FEMA has 380 specialists working on Maui in different locations and in different missions, Turi said.

Nearly 500 federal personnel, in all, have been deployed to Maui to assist residents, the White House said.

White House deputy press secretary Oliva Dalton said at a daily media briefing that FEMA has deployed over 140 search-and-rescue personnel, “who have integrated with the Maui Fire Department to help conduct search-and-rescue operations across a search zone that is several miles wide and encompasses thousands of predominantly residential structures.”

FEMA has also provided 50,000 meals, 75,000 liters of water, 5,000 cots, and 10,000 blankets, plus shelter supplies to the county government for distribution, she said.

The U.S. Fire Administration is focusing on the needs of the firefighters who responded to the catastrophe, with officials visiting fire stations on Maui to assess their physical and mental health resources, said Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator Tonya Hoover during the same conference call.

She stressed the importance of firefighters registering with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, which studies links between firefighting and cancer.

FEMA said a victim identification team will work at Maui’s Family Assistance Center, open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Kahului Community Center, where families can report loved ones who are unaccounted for and submit DNA swabs to help identify fire victims.

The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams have responded to numerous natural disasters, including hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and the Haiti earthquakes, and has assisted the National Transportation Safety Board at major transportation incidents.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that helping Lahaina will be “a very, very difficult mission, and patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims.”

Council member Yuki Lei Sugimura, who represents Upcountry Maui, reminded residents Tuesday that it “is UNSAFE” to drink or cook tap water.

“Residents are unable to treat the water in any way to make it safe,” she said in a statement.

Drinking water sites have been set up at Crater Road, Copp Road, Kula Fire Station, Rice Park, Kula Community Center, Keokea and Ulupalakua Ranch.

“Thank you to all of our neighbors who are helping each other out,” Sugimura wrote.

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Staff writers Andrew Gomes and Christie Wilson contributed to this report.