WAILUKU >> The names of six more Lahaina residents killed in the Aug. 8 wildfire that consumed more than 2,200 homes and other buildings were released Wednesday as the painstaking identification process continues.

The Maui Police Department said the death toll remained at 115, with 100% of the single- story residential properties in the 2,170-acre burned area having been searched. Search teams comprising 341 emergency personnel and 50 canine units have now turned their efforts toward surveying multistory residential and commercial properties, the county said.

The latest names released are Tau Ponali, 66; Valerie Kauffman, 78; Salvador Coloma, 77; Carlo Tobias, 54; Albert Kitaguchi, 62; and Lynn Manibog, 74.

Manibog retired after 35 years with the Royal Lahaina Resort in a variety of positions, then spent another 10 years as a substitute teacher, according to her daughter, Brandy Manibog.

“She just loved helping and working,” she said.

Her mother lived on Pauwala Place mauka of Honoapiilani Highway. She leaves behind another daughter, Shannon, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, with another due next month.

Coloma is one of nine members of the Coloma-Villegas- Quijano clan that were unaccounted for, according to “missing” posters and a GoFundMe page. His wife, Lydia, also has not been located.

Of the victims who have been identified so far, the next of kin have been notified in 27 cases, MPD said. Twenty-two other individuals have been identified but their family members have either not been notified or located.

Lahaina resident Becky Wells, 57, has yet to be formally named by MPD as one of the wildfire fatalities, but her sister said she died while huddling with her partner, Doug Gloege, 57, behind a Subway restaurant building just a few blocks from their home.

Gloege’s name was released Monday, and Wells’ sister, Kathleen Hennricks of Creswell, Ore., said she was contacted Saturday by FBI officials who told her that both had been identified through fingerprints.

Hennricks, 56, said their family lost an uncle on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, and the devastation in Lahaina revived memories of that tragedy.

“On TV you’re seeing the planes crash over and over again, and you can’t help but think your loved one was on that plane,” she said. “I think it’s the same for this wildfire. You see the blazes and all you can think of is your loved one was running for their life and trying to escape.”

Hennricks was particularly concerned because her sister suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, primarily in her feet, making it difficult for her to walk, let alone run.

“So one of my biggest fears was that she was alone when she passed. But they did find them together,” she said, along with Wells’ gold “Kuuipo” Hawaiian bracelet, which helped in her identification.

Wells moved to Maui from Huntington Beach, Calif., around 25 years ago with her three sons, who now live on the mainland.

“She always had a love for water, sand and just sunshine,” Hennricks said. “Maui, and Lahaina in particular, has such a sense of community and she just really blended in. She had found her place where she belonged. She was really happy.”

Wells, a grandmother to six, worked in gift shops and other jobs and enjoyed poi fire dancing, a variation on a traditional Maori dance.

“She was somebody that just took people in under her wings, somebody that was a good friend to everyone. It didn’t matter what walks of life you were from or what your financial background was or whatever. She was someone who was drawn to people just for them,” Hennricks said.

Wells and Gloege had been together for several years and shared a house on Paeohi Street mauka of Honoapiilani Highway with several other people. Hennricks said she didn’t know much about Gloege other than he was “a giving person and very protective.”

The couple were the last ones to evacuate their home as the flames raced through the neighborhood.

“I don’t think anyone understood how fast the fire was coming, and she was trying to get more stuff out of the house,” Hennricks said. “She was worried about some of the possessions she wanted to give her grandchildren.”

Donna Vreyens-Randall of Kingman, Ariz., said she and Wells were best friends at South Umpqua High School in Myrtle Creek, Ore.

“During high school I was shy and Becky just took me under her wing and treated me how anybody should be treated,” Vreyens-­Randall said. “I just talked to her two months ago. She talked about moving to Las Vegas so she could be closer to me.”

Among those waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones is Nichol Simpson, whose 42-year-old brother Tony Simpson, an emergency medical technician for American Medical Response, remains unaccounted for.

Nichol Simpson is currently traveling and said she was unavailable for an interview, but posted that her brother was last seen on Keone Street, where he lived, at around 2 p.m. Aug. 8 and may have been riding a yellow motorcycle.

Tony Simpson worked for AMR on Oahu before moving to Maui in March 2019, according to Mona Arcinas at AMR’s Kahului office. He is stationed full time on Lanai, commuting by ferry.

“He’s just a happy, fun-loving guy,” she said. Simpson enjoys baking cookies and bread, according to Arcinas, and is known as “Uncle Tony” to the youngsters on Lanai.

Two other EMTs employed by AMR lost their homes in the wildfire.

In a news release Wednesday, MPD confirmed reports that a Lahaina family had brought their son’s remains to the Lahaina Police Station after finding him at their residence, correcting comments made by Police Chief John Pelletier at a news conference Tuesday that no human remains from the Aug. 8 wildfire had been turned in to police.

“The individual’s biological relatives are residents of Mexico, and efforts are underway to conduct DNA testing to make a positive identification,” MPD said in a statement.

The teenager’s name has not been formally released but family members have identified him as 14-year-old Keyiro Fuentes, who would have celebrated his 15th birthday Aug. 20.

His adoptive mother Luz Vargas told NPR that Fuentes was home alone Aug. 8 since classes for juniors at Lahainaluna High School didn’t start until the next day. Vargas and her husband, Andres, operate a cleaning business and were working with their oldest son, Josue, at a condominium in nearby Honokowai.

As the blaze ripped through Lahaina, they raced back toward their burning neighborhood but were prevented from reaching their home.

After two heart-wrenching days, they got word Aug. 10 from friends that they had found Fuentes’ charred body in what used to be his bedroom, the family dog lying just a few inches away. Vargas told NPR the family wrapped his remains in a tarp and took him to the police station.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up to assist his family and pay his funeral expenses. A message on the page says Fuentes “had lots of dreams and hopes for his future, we are extremely devastated by this and are trying to lay him to rest like he deserves.”

FAMILY IDENTIFICATION

DNA samples collected at the Family Assistance Center are used only for identification of Lahaina wildfire victims and survivors, will not be stored or used for any other purpose, and will be destroyed after use, according to the FBI.

>> Immediate family members of individuals who have been reported unaccounted for should go to the county’s 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 of Maui should contact the FBI at 808-566-4300 or email HN-COMMAND-POST@ic.fbi.gov to coordinate submission of a DNA sample.

>> To report individuals who are unaccounted for, email unaccounted@mpd.net with first and last name of the reporting party, contact information, relationship with the individual, first and last name and age or date of birth of the individual and their physical address and last known location.

>> 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.

LIST OF VICTIMS

For a complete list of those who died the Lahaina wildfire, visit: 808ne.ws/3QNOCIv