Oakland fire captain warned of dangerous building

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Oakland fire captain recommended in January that a building that burned this week and killed four people should be immediately shut down for safety reasons, but department officials opted to take less drastic measures, records released Friday show.

In an email dated Jan. 8 and titled “Fire Safety Hazard,” Fire Capt. Richard Chew reported that a fire alarm had been pulled and not reset and there were open piles of garbage on the third floor of the building and a padlock on the door to the fire escape.

He recommended officials consider shutting the building down “due to the danger to life safety.”

The records show Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter ordered Chew to cut the padlock and other officials to contact the building’s owner to fix the alarm and remove trash. Owners are given 30 days to make repairs.

In December, Oakland became the site of the deadliest structure fire in U.S. history in a decade when 36 people died in a December blaze at a warehouse known as the Ghost Ship. Officials then vowed to crack down on substandard housing.

A Jan. 9 email by another fire captain regarding the building that burned Monday reported there were no fire extinguishers in the building. Fire Lt. Steve Padgett reported in a Feb. 25 email that the address is a “known fire hazard.”