Official tried to inspect Oakland warehouse 3 weeks 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.
Officials, who have been combing through the charred debris for five days, completed their search Wednesday and confirmed the final death toll at 36 in the most lethal building fire in the nation in more than a decade.
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 normally cannot force entry to a property unless there are pressing circumstances.
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, like Friday's rave concert.
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.”
Almena said he opened the warehouse to artists who didn’t have space elsewhere and for people who “can’t pay your rent because your dream is bigger than your pocketbook” and needed a place to live.
The warehouse is owned by Chor N. Ng, her daughter Eva Ng told the Los Angeles Times. She said the warehouse was leased as studio space for an art collective and was not being used as a dwelling.
"We are also trying to figure out what's going on like everybody else," the family wrote in a statement to KNTV. "Our condolences go out to the families and friends of those injured and those who lost their lives."