Investigators suspect cause of inferno may have been electrical.

Electrical issue still suspected as probe of warehouse continues

OAKLAND — Federal investigators have ruled out a refrigerator as the cause of the fatal Ghost Ship fire, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms official said Friday, but agents still suspect the cause of the inferno may have been electrical.

“Everything else electrical in the scene” is still being looked at, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the ATF’s San Francisco office. She said investigators examined the refrigerator first, following media reports that Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern said it may have been the cause of the nation’s deadliest fire in 13 years. Thirty-six people died.

Forensic mapping specialists will be working throughout the weekend, taking photos and measuring distances to recreate the scene to try to determine the origin of the fire, Snyder said. But she cautioned that the cause may never be determined.

Investigators suspect that the blaze may have begun near the refrigerator in the rear of the warehouse, Snyder said. “Outlets, power cords, anything that could be a possible source of ignition that could be in that area” is being combed through. She said investigators are still tracing electrical wires throughout the building, but “don’t have a diagram yet.”

Warehouse owner Chor Ng also owns the building next door, which has storefronts on both 31st Avenue and International Boulevard, records show. All of the electricity in the Ghost Ship came through a single meter that was shared with neighboring stereo and mobile phone shops, according to City Councilman Noel Gallo.

Jake Jacobitz, who did electrical work at the warehouse and occasionally stayed there, said electrical breakers at the collective blew out frequently. He calls himself an electrician, but there is no listing for a person with that last name having a state electrician’s certificate from the California Department of Labor.

Jacobitz said Derick Almena, the group’s leader, installed his own electrical boxes, even when Jacobitz offered to do it.

All of the Ghost Ship’s power came from a single line punched through a wall, where it was then tapped by anyone who needed it, Jacobitz said. The ground floor of the building was a maze of small live-work spaces for artists. The upper floor, where many of the victims attending a dance party died, was a performance space.

Gallo, who was there a week ago when the power was cut off after the fire, said he saw the same setup. “There was one meter feeding the whole warehouse operation,” he said.

“The property owner (received) the bill so she would come to the artists; she would come to the mechanics shop; and she would come to the other little shops,” Gallo said. “She would say based on the bill I got you owe $200 this month, you owe me $300 and based on the bill you owe $50.

“She knew all the activity that was going on,” Gallo said of Ng, who he repeatedly said this week bears much of the responsibility for the inferno.

A Pacific Gas and Electric spokeswoman said this week that the utility reviewed 10-plus years of records and have no reports of electricity theft or “any anomalies from this location or the adjacent premises.”

Ng’s daughter Eva, who has spoken for her since the fire, didn’t return a phone call Friday.

ATF is acting in an advisory role to the Oakland Fire Department, as the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office conducts a criminal investigation.

The Bay Area News Group reported Thursday that the building, once a milk bottling plant, was not in Oakland’s database of commercial buildings that require yearly fire safety checks — and there are no records showing that the building ever underwent a routine fire inspection.

Friday marked the fifth day that Mayor Libby Schaaf’s administration did not release any Fire Department records about the building despite repeated requests from this news organization and others.