OFFICIAL TRIED TO INSPECT OAKLAND WAREHOUSE BEFORE DEADLY FIRE

An Oakland city building inspector, responding to complaints of allegedly illegal interior construction at the Ghost Ship warehouse, tried unsuccessfully to gain access to the building three weeks before it went up in flames during a dance party, killing 36 people.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said late Tuesday that the inspector followed procedure and later sent a request to the owner of the building to try to gain entry. She did not indicate the outcome of that request, the Associated Press reported.

Under city codes, building officials and fire marshals need court permission — such as a warrant — to enter commercial buildings if the owner or manager refuses access. Schaaf said inspectors nor- mally cannot force entry to a property unless there are pressing circumstances.

The death toll from Friday night's inferno during a rave concert is the most lethal building fire in the nation in more than a decade.

Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the San Francisco field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said investigators are focusing on a refrigerator and other electrical appliances as a possible starting point for the blaze.

“It’s not been determined as the cause of the fire at this time,” Snyder said. “What they are looking at is any potential ignition source that could have been the cause of the fire. The refrigerator is a potential ignition source as are other items.”

She said that trigger could be "anything electrical," including outlets and transformers.

Snyder said investigators focused on the area based on interviews with first responders, 911 calls and witnesses, the East Bay Times reported.

By late Tuesday, fire teams had inspected 90% of the building — all but one unstable section — and do not believe they will find additional victims, KCBS- TV reported. All but one of the 36 victims has been identified.

The warehouse, which had been turned into artists' studios and illegal living spaces, was a popular night spot for the community.

Derick Ion Almena, manager of the Ghost Ship Warehouse, told the Today show that he signed a lease for the building that "was to city standards supposedly."

"I'm only here to say one thing that I'm incredibly sorry and that everything that I did was to make this a stronger and more beautiful community and to bring people together," he said in an emotional interview from the scene. “People didn’t walk through those doors because it was a horrible place. People didn’t seek us out to perform and express themselves because it was a horrible place.”

The warehouse is owned by Chor N. Ng, her daughter Eva Ng told the Los Angeles Times.

The Ghost Ship building was a place for artists whose “dreams were bigger than your pocketbook.” Derick Almena

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ, AP Flowers, pictures and candles adorn a fence at a memorial near the site of the warehouse fire Tuesday in Oakland.

JEFF CHIU, AP Emergency crew workers and vehicles are shown in front of the site of a warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 6. The deadly fire erupted Friday night, Dec. 2. during a dance party at the warehouse.