Authorities in Hawaii have for the primary time launched an inventory naming 388 individuals who had been nonetheless unaccounted for within the aftermath of the deadliest wildfires in America in additional than a century, which killed no less than 115 folks.

The fires devastated the coastal city of Lahaina on the island of Maui, in addition to different areas of the island, greater than two weeks in the past. Search-and-rescue groups are nonetheless sifting by way of the final patches of ash and rubble in search of human stays.

By making the names public late on Thursday, the authorities hoped to slender the tally of the lacking. In an announcement, Maui’s police chief, John Pelletier, requested anybody on the listing who had survived the hearth to come back ahead and take away their names. Officials had stated earlier on Tuesday that 1,000 to 1,100 folks remained unaccounted for.

It was not instantly clear why the listing released on Thursday had fewer names. Mr. Pelletier stated the listing consists of anybody for whom officers have a primary and final identify and make contact with info for the one who reported them lacking.

Officials have been bracing the general public for the probability that the variety of confirmed useless from the fires — which stands at 115 — will rise considerably.

“We also know that once those names come out, it can and will cause pain for folks whose loved ones are listed,” Mr. Pelletier stated. “This is not an easy thing to do, but we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make this investigation as complete and thorough as possible.”

Earlier on Thursday, Maui officers recognized the primary youngster recognized to have been killed by the fires: Tony Takafua, who was 7. The victims recognized to date have largely been older residents.

The determination to launch the names of the lacking got here after F.B.I. officers, together with the Maui Police, the Red Cross and different companies, examined numerous lists compiled by shelters, cross referencing and mixing them into one tally. Along the best way, they recognized many survivors and eliminated their names.

Within hours of the listing being publicly launched, a number of folks posted on social media that a few of these named within the listing had already stated they had been alive. One girl wrote, in response to a Facebook publish concerning the listing by Maui County, that she had discovered two folks within the listing whom she knew had survived the fires. “Hoping there are many more like this,” she wrote.

The remaining toll from the Lahaina fireplace, which started on the grassy hillsides above the city and raced, fueled by excessive winds, by way of the middle of city to the Pacific Ocean, will in all probability not be recognized for months. Many folks died close to Front Street in Lahaina, which runs alongside the ocean wall; of their automobiles; or within the ocean. Many had been trapped in visitors making an attempt to flee the hearth, with the encircling roads blocked by downed energy strains. Some older residents died at a senior living center.

So far, the authorities have launched the names of 35 people who find themselves confirmed useless and have been recognized by way of DNA testing. Four-fifths of them — 28 folks — had been older than 60. On Thursday, the primary youngster, a 7-year-old, was added to the list of confirmed deaths.

Countless households have endured an agonizing await news of family members who’re unaccounted for. In the absence of official phrase, many have held out hope, traversing Maui clutching lacking posters, inserting them in publish workplaces, resorts, parks and shelters.

Many family of the lacking have been reluctant to submit DNA samples for comparability with human stays recovered from the rubble of Lahaina. On Tuesday, the authorities stated that they had obtained solely 104 samples from members of the family, they usually renewed pressing pleas for folks to submit DNA, promising that the data won’t be used for something apart from figuring out the useless of Lahaina, and won’t be entered into every other authorities databases.

“We need family members to come forward and donate their samples so that we can compare them to these DNA profiles we’ve already generated from remains,” Julie French, senior vice chairman of ANDE, a Colorado-based firm that’s utilizing speedy DNA know-how to determine stays in Lahaina, advised reporters this week. “This is a critical step.”

Veronica Mendoza Jachowski, the manager director of Lahaina Roots Reborn, a social companies group that was shaped within the aftermath of the hearth, stated many immigrants who might have misplaced somebody within the fireplace have been frightened about how their DNA could be used.

“‘Is it OK for me to go? Is it safe to go?’” she stated she was requested. “At first we didn’t have a clear answer, but now we have the assurance.”

Some immigrants had been residing in Lahaina by themselves, Ms. Mendoza Jachowski stated, and their households are in faraway locations like Mexico or the Philippines. Lahaina Roots Reborn, she stated, has been making an attempt to rearrange for family overseas to present DNA samples.

By releasing the names of the lacking, Maui is following the instance of what authorities did in Northern California after the Camp Fire in 2018. Initially, the listing of the lacking from that fireside, which consumed the city of Paradise within the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, reached 1,300, however was slowly trimmed following the discharge of the listing. The remaining demise toll was 85 folks.

Until the blaze that decimated Lahaina, the Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire within the United States since 1918, when a forest fireplace in Minnesota killed lots of of individuals.