(WJW) – Several search and recovery teams from Ohio are in Hawaii, looking for more wildfire victims. Three teams, with their K-9s from Ohio Task Force One deployed Wednesday, arrived to comb the ash and rubble.

Thursday, they sent back some of the first photos from Lahaina, showing the historic wildfire devastation they encountered as soon as they arrived.

From Columbus, task force leader Jack Reall spoke to them when they arrived, but has been waiting to hear from them after they complete their first 12-hour shift.

“Primarily, they’re searching for human remains. They’re part of that group, so we have task forces there and then we have an additional 40 K-9s from the USAR system that are searching that area grid by grid to find human remains,” said Reall.

Complicating the grim and grueling search is the extreme heat, which impacts the humans and their K-9 partners alike.

“One of the problems that they’re having right now is the asphalt right now is about 165 degrees during daylight hours and they’re burning through booties on the dogs’ feet pretty regularly,” Reall said.

The task force leader says the crews are accustomed to searching large areas after disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and building collapses. But he says the aftermath of the Hawaii wildfires is different.

“This is different because it is a burned environment, which means there’s a lot of ash, there’s a lot of hazardous materials, a lot of toxic things in there, so we’ve just got to be careful with the K-9s and the handlers to make sure that they’re safe while they’re going through that,” said Reall.

The three task force members are working 12-hour shifts, along with other task forces from across the country. Unlike the aftermath of tornadoes, hurricanes or other natural disasters, sadly, Reall says they do not expect to find survivors.

“I think at this point, they’re still searching and things like that, but primarily, we’re trying to recover remains,” he said.

The task members say it’s important to bring victims home to their families.

“This is going to be a longtime recovery and we get to come back home and be with our families and things like that, but the people that we leave, they are going to need help for a long time,” said Reall.

Their usual deployment is for 14-days, but the task force leader says that could easily be extended. He also says some of the task forces could be recycled in and out of the state to give some of the forces there a much needed break.