Deadly Fire Kills 9 at Oakland Warehouse



At least nine people were killed and 25 others are unaccounted for after a three-alarm fire erupted at a warehouse party in Oakland late Friday night, fire officials said.

The fire ripped through the 1300 block of 31st Avenue at about 11:30 p.m., Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said, adding that she doesn’t know if the building had smoke alarms.  

A Facebook event page indicates that the fire sparked during a Golden Donna show, which was promoted by Los Angeles-based dance label 100% Silk. Bob Mule, a witness, said the space is also occupied by a 24-hour artist collective that he belongs to. Pictures from the scene identify the site as Satya Yuga.

Battalion Chief Lisa Baker said the building is “subdivided into other occupancies” and between 50 and 100 people were at the party on the upper floor. 

Reed confirmed there were “nine known fatalities” around 7 a.m., and that at least 25 others were unaccounted for. Around 9 a.m., Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. JD Nelson said officials are preparing for about 40 deaths based on the number of confirmed fatalities and people who are reported missing.

Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Kelly declined to “play the numbers game” when it comes to the number of people killed, and said officials will give an updated death toll as the investigation moves forward.

Reed emphasized, however, that just because a person is unaccounted for does not mean the person is dead. Officials were working to determine which attendees had taken themselves to the hospital, and who had simply left the warehouse.

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“One of the issues,” Reed said, was that the building had only “one way up and down from the second floor and it’s my understanding that stairwell was kind of like a makeshift, that they put it together with pallets.”

When she tried to enter the building, Reed said she was “just able to get in about 10 feet.” Kelly added that it is “tricky” to move around in the building because of debris, beams, a collapsed roof, and leaking water.

“This is not an easy task by any means,” Kelly said.

The victims are primarily people in their 20s and 30s, but not all are locals, Kelly said.

“It appears that people either made it out or didn’t make it out,” he said. “There’s not a lot of other injuries that have been reported to us at this time.” 

The first fire crews on the scene “found a building that had smoke and flames coming out of three sides,” Baker said. They made an “aggressive” attack to put the fire out, but conditions changed, forcing them to “retreat” from the then-“defensive” blaze.

It took 11 fire engines, three fire trucks and 52 firefighters “four hours to get the fire out,” said Baker, adding that flames “burned through the roof.”

Reed said that 25 people were killed in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, but “as a single-structure fire I don’t think Oakland has had a fatality of this magnitude in a while.”

“It’s going to be a huge impact, not just on the firefighters but on the families, on this community and the city as a whole,” she added.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement that the fire was an “immense tragedy” and thanked emergency responders.

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“Our focus right now is on the victims and their families and ensuring that we have a full accounting for everyone who was impacted by this tragedy,” she said.

The Oakland Athletics tweeted their support for those affected by the fire. “We will work together to heal our community,” the team wrote. The A’s also sought donations and pledged to match contributions up to $20,000. 

Event organizers have created a list on Facebook to try and figure out who is alive and accounted for. Families and friends took to Facebook and Twitter to express condolences for those who had died in the fire, and search for those still missing.

Oakland property records indicate that the warehouse is owned by the Chor N. Ng trust.

Multiple complaints have been filed against the property’s owner, records show. A Housing Habitability Complaint, involving an illegal interior building structure, was filed as recently  as Nov. 14. City officials were in the process of investigating the complaint when the fire broke out.

A complaint was also filed on Nov. 13 for garbage piling up on the property, some of which was hazardous, records show. There have also been reports of blight at the building.

On social media, people referred to the building as the “Oakland Ghost Ship,” an artist’s conclave. According to the Oakland Ghost Ship website, the building is also home to Max Ohr’s Deeper Magic Tattoo Studio.

When the fire broke out, Mule said he was downstairs and about to start painting. The smell of smoke stopped him. 

“We were trying to figure out where the smoke was coming from and we saw where the fire was, it was on the back left corner of the space,” he said. “It all happened really quickly. The fire went up really really quickly.”

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When Mule tried to retrieve his computer and camera, he saw that a fellow collective member, who used the space next to his, “had broken his ankle and was calling out for help.” Mule tried helping him out, but “there was a lot of stuff in the way and the flames were too much. There was too much smoke and … I had to let him go,” he said, choking up.

Mule suffered burns on his arms, hands and shoulder, but his vest was charred and appeared to have taken the brunt of the flames. Although glad to be alive, he remained concerned about his friend. 

“I haven’t seen him and there’ve been flames shooting out of the building … I hope he’s OK,” Mule said. 

Officials said they were waiting for the building to cool off before completing a thorough search.

“There’s a lot of damage to the building. We haven’t completed our search yet,” Reed said.

There will be an arson task force that investigates the fire, but there’s no reason to suspect arson at this time. “We will be at this crime scene for weeks to come,” he said.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and American Red Cross have set up a family assistance center at 2425 E. 12th Street. Grief counselors will be on hand. People can call 510-382-3000 for help.

Check back for updates on this breaking news story.

Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area
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