AT LEAST 9 KILLED, 2 DOZEN MORE FEARED DEAD IN CALIFORNIA FIRE
Party at artists’ collective ends in ‘ terrible tragedy’
At least nine people are dead and as many as two dozen others also might have perished in a massive fire that broke out late Friday in an Oakland warehouse and artists’ collective in what Mayor Libby Schaaf on Saturday called a “terrible tragedy.”
Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office spokesman Ray Kelly said it could take at least 48 hours to tally the number of casualties because of the continuing danger posed to firefighters by the unstable and charred remains of the structure in the city’s Fruitvale district. The fire broke out during an electronic- music party at the warehouse.
“This is a devastating scene,” the mayor said at a news briefing Saturday afternoon, adding that the investigation and recovery effort would be a “complex” undertaking.
Schaaf said she had met earlier Saturday with a roomful of people still searching for loved ones but could not say how many might have perished.
Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed told reporters that most of the dead were found on the second floor. She said it took about five hours to put
out the blaze in the building, which did not appear to have sprinklers.
At least part of the structure had been partitioned into several artist’s studios and was packed with furniture, mannequins and other objects. Reed said the building didn’t have a clear exit path. City officials confirmed Saturday that building authorities had opened an investigation just last month into complaints about the safety of the structure. That inquiry was ongoing when the fire struck.
An inspector from Oakland’s Department of Planning had attempted to enter the building Nov. 17 in response to complaints of illegal building and blight in the lot next door, but was unable to get in, city officials confirmed Saturday.
Whether the inspector couldn’t get in because he was refused entrance or simply because no one was at the building wasn’t immediately known.
The scent of the smoldering building could be detected from blocks away Saturday afternoon.
Fire officials said the post- fire search of the building was stymied when the roof collapsed. Because of the precarious state of the structure, officials with the coroner’s office were unable to begin recovering bodies until nearly seven hours after the fire struck.
“One of the issues was that leading up to the second floor there was only one way up and down,” Reed told reporters. “It was my understanding that the stairwell was kind of makeshift, that they put it together with pallets.” Around 1: 30 p. m., firefighters began unloading lumber to the building to shore up dangerously damaged walls and ceilings so crews could continue the gruesome task of searching for bodies in the charred remains of the two- story stucco structure.
Kelly said investigators had launched drones with thermal imaging capability over the gutted building to help officials find victims.
One witness who escaped the blaze, Bob Mule, told the East Bay Times that a friend hurt himself and asked for help getting out. Mule said he tried, but couldn’t do it.
“It was too hot, too much smoke; I had to get out of there,” said Mule, a photographer who lives in the building and suffered minor burns. “I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn’t get the fire extinguisher to work.”
About 50 people, most believed to be in their 20s and 30s, are believed to have been in the building, nicknamed “The Ghost Ship,” at the time of the blaze, fire department officials said.
Kelly said the investigation will be slow, because of the state of the scene.
“It’s just a task to get through the front door with all the debris and wreckage that’s there,” Kelly said. “We’re slowly making our way in, and we have to go systematically because any misstep on the part of our people could mean they get injured or fall through a floor or have something fall on top of them.”
Friends and family took to social media Saturday to post and seek information on loved ones who might have been there.
The sheriff ’s office set up a family notification and assistance center at the Alameda County Building. Authorities were asking family and friends who believe they have loved ones who may have been in the warehouse to contact the sheriff ’s department.
“We are hoping for the best,” said Terry Ewing, whose girlfriend was planning on attending the party and was among the missing.
“There is still a lot of rubble that needs to be searched,” Reed said. “And as we continue to search the building, I pray that fatality count does not go up, but I believe there is a potential for it to.”