DNA firm schooled in war zones helps ID California fire victims

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office called the Colorado-based company on Monday, and by Tuesday morning ANDE had set up a work site near Chico in Butte County, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco. Chico, about 10 miles from Paradise, is the base for the search and firefighting operations.

The company, which has about 90 employees worldwide, designed its tools specifically to withstand war zone conditions and has worked extensively with the U.S. military. It has also helped law enforcement identify sexual assault suspects and with U.N. trafficking cases, Mattern said.

But the Paradise catastrophe was the first request ANDE had received to assist in a natural disaster since its founding in 2000.

In hopes of identifying DNA from remains as quickly as possible, ANDE has set up seven Rapid DNA analysis instruments near Chico and had six employees on site with more on the way on Wednesday, said the company's chief information officer, Stephen Meer, noting the level of work it expects compared to the company's usual projects.

"Certainly we are gearing up for higher capacity here," Meer said.

Once the ANDE team finds a match between remains and DNA provided by a family member, the coroner's office is alerted so it can make an official pronouncement of death.

Death certificates are required for families to settle matters as complicated as life insurance and estates and as basic as a car title, credit card or bank account. Without positive identification, families may have to wait years for a death certificate to be issued for a missing loved one, depending on state rules.

Extreme heat can often destroy DNA, causing traditional DNA analysis methods to fail. Rapid DNA analysis has proven to be more effective in identifying DNA from burned remains and bone fragments, which makes it an especially valuable tool in such tragedies.