Alfie Rawlings’ remains returned to Australia after Hawaii wildfire death

Alfie Rawlings was one of 100 people to perish in the Hawaiian wildfire disaster earlier this year.

Adelaide woman Shirley McPherson has finally received her father’s ashes after they went missing in the post after his death in a US wildfire.

Ms McPherson’s father Alfie Rawlings was killed in the Hawaii wildfires in August this year but it has taken months to reunite his remains with his family after they were lost in the mail.

Hawaii fire victim Alfie Rawlings. Picture: Facebook

“He ended up in Los Angeles and then they lost his ashes for eight days,” the Adelaide nurse said.

“Technical issues is what it came up as.”

Mr Rawlings died on August 16 after the fires in Hawaii broke out, tearing through his small town of Lahaina on Maui.

The group of assisted living units where Mr Rawlings had been living was one of more than 2000 structures destroyed.

Mr Rawlings was one of more than 100 people killed in the disaster.

Ms McPherson said it took seven weeks for authorities to confirm his death and several more to complete the DNA identification process.

She said her father’s remains were sent from Hawaii to Australia but were lost due to problems with tracking

Ms McPherson told 7News she was part of a class-action lawsuit against the power company, whose infrastructure led to the fire.

Finally reunited with her father’s lost ashes, she said she intended to scatter them in the ocean off South Australia.