Screams alert residents to fire that killed 3 in Oakland

OAKLAND (AP) — Awakened by screams of “fire,” Michael Jones bolted out of bed in the predawn darkness Monday at the dilapidated Oakland apartment building he calls home, instinctively pounded on the doors of his elderly neighbors and ushered them to safety — walkers and all.

Jones, 43, then found Princess, the “house” pit bull, cowering in the backyard, and the two ran out the front door as glass shattered from the heat.

A few hours later, he and the dog stood across the street, staring at the smoldering wooden structure that housed some 80 low-income residents, many of whom complained that they had not heard alarms, felt sprinklers or found fire extinguishers as they fled the substandard living conditions.

Jones said a prayer of gratitude for surviving the fire that killed three people and hurt four others, including two children. One remained missing.

The Alameda County coroner identified one of the victims as 64-yearold Edwarn Anderson, of Oakland.

Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Erik Logan said some people were hanging from windows and others were in fire escapes when firefighters arrived at the building.

The fire broke out in the rundown neighborhood nearly three months after a warehouse called the Ghost Ship caught fire and killed 36 people attending an unlicensed concert about five miles (eight kilometers) away.

The fires have raised questions about the use of some buildings in the city for residences amid a shortage of affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“At least the rats are gone,” said Angela Taylor, 62, clutching her purse, the only possession she managed to get out of a room she paid $550 a month to live in. “It’s the wrong purse, but it’s better than nothing. A lady needs her purse.”

In 2010, Oakland allowed the owner of the 40-unit building that burned Monday to convert the structure into transitional housing for recovering drug addicts, people struggling with homelessness and others, records show.

Since then, it has been the subject of several building department citations and investigations. City records show building officials verified complaints filed by the nonprofit organization that rents most of the building about deferred maintenance.