The weeks of fragmentary information from Hawaii and news media has raised some concerns I want to mention. The hurdles to identification involved in this type of mass disaster are huge principally because of the high temperature effects on human remains. The number 1000 still missing continues to be mentioned. My experience with search for cremated remains began in 1993 during the Los Angeles riots initiated by the Ridney King police beating. Buildings burned to their foundations leaving tangles of structural beams and debris spread throughout the fire scenes. Our Coroner team was tasked to recover fire victims. What we found runs parallel to what has occurred in Lahaina. Exponentially worse in Hawaii. The recovery teams there are having to sift through the ashes and debris in hundreds of totally destroyed homes and businesses. This requires heavy equipment to remove burned structural components before visually inspecting all the residual ashed material. Then it all has to be sieved to recover fire splintered bone and teeth. This material is fragile and crumbly. The challenge is retrieving DNA. This is problematic due to extreme heat. The scope of this effort is huge. It is exhausting and often frustrating. I wish the community, first responders and recovery teams receive personal assistance counseling to add support in this tragic process. Aloha