Two charged in Oakland fire that killed 36

OAKLAND — Authorities arrested Ghost Ship master tenant Derick Almena and warehouse tenant Max Harris on Monday and both have been charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in conjunction with the deadly Dec. 2 Ghost Ship fire that killed three dozen people.

Prosecutors announced the arrests a little more than six months after the inferno and said the investigation is over and no one else, including warehouse landlord Chor Ng, will face criminal charges, upsetting friends and families of victims who blamed Ng for owning a building many called a “death trap.”

In court documents, an Alameda County district attorney investigator said Almena held the lease for the warehouse and illegally lived inside, encouraging his subtenants to create living spaces with “nonconventional building materials,” such as wooden sculptures, pianos and furniture.

“Almena substantially increased the risk to those living, working or visiting the building by storing enormous amounts of flammable material inside the warehouse,” Alameda County DA investigator Cristina Harbison wrote in court documents. “Residents reported that if they put anything in their individual living spaces that did not conform to Almena’s idea as to how the warehouse should look, he would order it to be removed.”

The ramshackle interior “created an extremely dangerous fire load,” Harbison wrote.

Almena, 47, also advertised the space for three years as a music venue and social gathering place without permits, Harbison wrote. Once he began using the warehouse to host parties he was obligated to install proper fire-prevention systems. Witnesses also told investigators he was repeatedly warned about the dangers, but failed to act, Harbison wrote.

The investigator also said the fire started in the northwest corner of the first floor of the warehouse, but because there was so much damage the “exact cause is undetermined.”

Almena was arrested in Lake County, while Harris, also known as Max Ohr, was arrested in Los Angeles County on Monday morning without incident, DA spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said at an afternoon news conference in Oakland. The FBI assisted in the arrests.

Almena was booked into Lake County jail shortly before 1 p.m. Monday and was being held on $1 million bail. The jail website listed his home address as Upperlake and he listed his profession as “set designer/stage build.” If convicted on all 36 charges, Almena and Harris each face up to 39 years in prison, Drenick said.

Almena and Harris are also defendants in civil lawsuits filed on behalf of the fire victims.

DA Nancy O’Malley told reporters Almena and Harris “knowingly created a fire trap.”