WAILUKU, Maui >> The methodical search for human remains in the ruins of the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire has ended, officials said Tuesday, with recovery efforts transitioning to a more challenging phase of locating and identifying fire victims from fragments and ash as the removal of hazardous waste begins.

Specialized Federal Emergency Management Agency urban search and recovery teams from over 19 states, including 40 cadaver-detecting dogs, have surveyed 100% of the 5-square-mile disaster area, and the 115 people whose remains were recovered are likely the last recognizable remains to be found, according to a spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s Joint Information Center.

Several hundred more people are still unaccounted for — 388 at last count on the FBI’s verified list — leaving it uncertain whether any more fire fatalities will eventually be identified. An updated list is due to be released to the public Friday.

“It’s not like the search will stop. It will just not be a gridded, complete search because it’s already been searched, truthfully, at least once if not multiple times,” HI-EMA JIC Public Information Officer Jon Heggie said Tuesday. “Now what is left would not be identified with any type of human anatomy.”

Heggie said the focus is now on “trying to come up with methods and procedures to identify bodies that have experienced that high temperature for high duration and identify what that may look like. It may come down to random sampling of rubble for DNA.”

The official death toll from the Lahaina wildfire has remained unchanged at 115 since Aug. 21. The Maui Police Department so far has released the names of 48 of the fatalities, and on Tuesday said six others have been identified but their next of kin had yet to be located or contacted.

The fatalities named Tuesday are Lahaina residents Joseph Lara, 86, Gwendolyn Puou, 83, and Edward Sato, 76.

With the land search for fire victims completed, divers from the Maui Fire Department, the Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard have been checking the waters off Lahaina, including sunken vessels. The search area extends along the coastline from Puamana Beach Park to Wahikuli Wayside Park out to 200 yards.

So far, no human remains have been found in the ocean, officials said, although the Coast Guard reported recovering a body in the water shortly after flames ravaged the seaside town.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement on Tuesday deployed one of its vessels to assist the FBI’s Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team in using an autonomous underwater vehicle to retrieve any belongings or identifiable items that might help in identifying people who remain unaccounted for.

“The FBI search is expected to be the final mission in the multipronged effort to try and account for any remaining victims of the fire, to provide their families some closure,” according to a DLNR news release.

County, state and federal officials appearing at a news conference Tuesday at the Kalana o Maui county building in Wailuku renewed their pleas to relatives of those as yet unaccounted for to provide a DNA sample via a simple cheek swab to help identify those who died in the firestorm that destroyed most of Lahaina, including an estimated 2,200 structures, nearly 90% of them residences.

Maui County communications and public affairs chief Mahina Martin said only 150 to 200 people have come into the Family Assistance Center to report missing family members or submit DNA samples, far fewer than hoped.

“We are still in need of DNA samples from family, and that is hindering our identification process for sure, so that is something we definitely need,” said New York pathologist and coroner’s physician Dr. Jeremy T. Stuelpnagel, who is assisting in the identification process. “We are working other scientific methods to identify the people, basically working it from every angle that we can to get these people identified and back to their families.”

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said 120-plus DNA samples have been collected from family members so far, “but we need more because there might be three family members that gave samples for one individual.”

DNA samples have been collected from 110 of the 115 confirmed fatalities, he said.

Additionally, 110 reports of possible fire victims have been filed with MPD, he said, and police are “still actively working” more than 50 of those cases. “Some have passed, some have been found safe,” he said.

“If you have someone that you know is missing, file that report and get that swab and help us get these folks the respect and dignity that they so greatly deserve,” Pelletier said.

Officials have tried to reassure the public that any DNA samples collected will be used only for identification of wildfire victims and survivors and will not be stored or used for any other purpose such as immigration or criminal investigations.

To report a person who is still unaccounted for, email unaccounted@mpd.net. DNA samples can be submitted at the Family Assistance Center from 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa’s Monarchy Ballroom in Kaanapali.

FINDING OHANA

>> A validated list of names of those unaccounted for is available at mauinuistrong.info/unaccountedfor. If you recognize a name on the list and know the person to be safe or have additional information that might help locate them, contact the FBI at 808-566-4300 or HN-COMMAND-POST@ic.fbi.gov.

>> To report a person who is still unaccounted for, email unaccounted@mpd.net with the reporting person’s first and last name, contact information and relationship to the unaccounted-for person. Also provide the person’s first and last name, age or date of birth, and last known location and physical address.

>> Those seeking information on the unaccounted for should go to the Family Assistance Center from 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa’s Monarchy Ballroom in Kaanapali.

>> Immediate family members who live outside Maui should contact the FBI at 808-566-4300 or email HN-COMMAND-POST@ic.fbi.gov to coordinate submission of a DNA sample. DNA samples are only for identification of wildfire victims and survivors and will not be stored or used for any other purpose.

>> Maui County officials are warning of scams related to the collection of DNA samples. Family Assistance Center staff do not call members of the public to request DNA samples, and no fees are charged for the service. Anyone receiving calls from someone claiming to be with “DNA services” or other parties should hang up immediately and report the scam to the Maui Police Department’s nonemergency number at 808-244-6400.

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For a list of Lahaina wildfire fatalities, visit 808ne.ws/3QNOCIv.