More than six months after wildfires destroyed thousands of homes in the Los Angeles area, officials said July 22 that the death toll had reached 31.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner (DME) said human remains were found on the 10 block of La Venezia Court in Altadena, the site of the Eaton Fire. The discovery was reported to authorities, and the department’s Special Operations Response Team verified at the scene that the remains were human.

In total, 19 people have officially died in the Eaton Fire, while 12 people died in the Palisades Fire.

The medical examiner’s office said it uses “dental records, medical records, and familial DNA associated with missing persons reports to compare to unidentified decedents.”

“Due to the complexity of these methods and the process, it can take considerable time to confirm a decedent’s identity in these types of cases,” the office said.

It’s the first time new remains have been discovered since April, when the DME confirmed human remains at the 900 block of Boston Street in Altadena.

Most wildfire deaths were confirmed in January, with several identifications in February.

The DME published a list featuring open cases on Jan. 10. It announced that by Jan. 24, it had identified 18 of the 28 victims from the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.

Rory Sykes and Elizabeth Morgan were identified publicly on Feb. 3.

On Feb. 10, the DME announced it had identified two more victims of the Eaton Fire, Dalyce Curry and Patricia McKenna. The office had identified 22 of the fire-related victims as of Feb. 10.

A sign saying "unsafe" outside destroyed homes on the streets of Altadena, Calif., on Jan. 24, 2025. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Three days later, Hak Wong was identified as a victim of the Palisades Fire. The DME had identified 23 people at that time who had died in the wildfires, and still had six more individuals to identify.

On Feb. 18, another victim of the Palisades Fire, Randall Miod, was identified.

In May, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department revealed on social media that a 74-year-old man living in the Eaton Fire zone was missing. He was last seen the evening of Jan. 7, the day on which the Eaton Fire erupted.

Southern California Edison (SCE) said this week that it was launching the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program this fall to “quickly compensate those impacted by the Eaton Fire.”

“Community members shouldn’t have to wait for the final conclusions in the Eaton Fire investigation to get the financial support they need to begin rebuilding,” Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, SCE’s parent company, said in a July 23 statement.

“Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly. This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation.”