A DNA testing company helping to identify remains from the Camp Fire says they've been able to identify more than they anticipated. The problem, though, is that they're missing the matching DNA from family members.
Essentially, they have a lot of remains identified that need to be claimed.
Annette Mattern with the Colorado company ANDE says many remains are coded, but the match to the family member hasn't yet occured.
"We only have about 65 donors who've come and said, 'My relative is missing, take my DNA,' Mattern said. "And then we have that code of the donor in the database, but we're not getting as many as we need."
Because of this, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea has asked law enforcement in the entire state of California to help.
"Anybody in the state that wants to donate their DNA, they can go to a local police department and give their sample, tell them what it's for and they will get it to the Butte County Sheriff," Mattern said.
ANDE uses a process called Rapid DNA. Up to five different samples can be tested at a time in what the company calls a "laboratory in a box" and results only take two hours to process.
Mattern says this technology is typically used by law enforcement and the military.
ANDE is donating their services to help identify the Camp Fire victims.
You can hear the entire interview here:
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