California warehouse fire toll rises to 40

OAKLAND: Fire crews in California on Sunday were searching the charred remains of a warehouse gutted by a blaze during a rave party, with officials saying the death toll could reach 40.

Relatives of dozens of people missing in the Friday night blaze in Oakland near San Francisco endured an anxious wait for news. Nine people have been confirmed dead so far.

The converted two-story warehouse was used by artists as a living and work space but had no licence for this, officials said, nor for the electronic dance party under way when the blaze broke out. The cause of the fire was not yet known.

Firefighters said the building seemed to have no sprinklers or smoke detectors.

Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff ’s department said on Saturday evening that about two dozen people who were reported missing had been located.

But at least two dozen more remain missing, he said.

“We don’t know how far into the process we are, because we don’t absolutely have a number of people that we know are deceased inside of there,” Kelly said.

“There’s still a lot of the building that needs to be searched,” Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said.

An official at the sheriff ’s office who declined to be named said early on Sunday the death toll could rise to 40 or higher.

The electronic dance music party was attended by an estimated 50 to 100 people.

The sheriff ’s office station in Oakland became a centre for relatives of the missing. The Salvation Army dropped off 50 meals for them, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Daniel Vega told the newspaper he is looking for his brother Alex and his girlfriend, who had said they were going to a rave in Oakland.

“If he is dead, if he is in the rubble, fine, I’ll get over it. But I just want to find him,” Vega told the Chronicle.

Al Garcia, who owns a supply company across the street, said that when he learned of the fire and went to the scene, flames were coming out of the windows and roof.

“I knew people were dead,” he told the Chronicle. “There was no way anyone could get out.”