Death toll hits 30 in inferno at Calif. art studio

At least 33 people are now known to have died during a fire that broke out at a warehouse party in California.

Attendees embrace during a memorial for victims of a warehouse fire at Chapel of the Chimes Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Firefighters struggled to get to bodies in the rubble Saturday after a deadly fire to.

As many as 100 people were there for a party Friday night when the fire broke out just before midnight.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation, but she has not provided specifics.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s office said in a press conference Sunday afternoon that they have located the remains of 30 victims from the fire. Within just feet of the breach, rescue workers found the first body. He drew rebukes online from others who said he was warned the building was unsafe.

The building was a live and work art space, divided into numerous artist studios.

“There were two people on the first level who had spotted a small fire that was growing quickly”, she said.

A GoFundMe account was created by Reina Lam to raise money for those who lost their work or living space in the fire.

“He must have broken his ankle while coming down from his loft and his space and he needed me to pull him out”, Mulè said. “It is tragic to watch so many people parish from a fire fatality in front of your eyes and have to be stoic in your job, be professional in your actions, and make sure that we are honoring the victims and their families to bring them safely out of the building”, said Oakland FD Batt.

Bob Mule, a photographer and artist who lives at the building, told KGO-TV that he and another person smelled smoke and spotted the fire in a back corner and started yelling.

However, Jackie Ward of CBS SF did an interview with a neighbor of the warehouse that said the Oakland Fire was a tragedy because the people at Ghost Ship cared about the neighborhood and that no one [in the media] is “talking about those good things” at all. Ray Kelly says authorities have identified some 17 year olds among the victims. Barich, an artist in the neighborhood for 30 years, said she has lived in some of the warehouses.

“It was quiet, it was heartbreaking”, she said, referring to the search.

Darin Ranelletti, of the Oakland Planning Department, said the city opened an investigation November 13 and an investigator went to the premises on November 17 but could not get inside the building. She anticipates at least a few more days using the same approach.

Aguilar-Canabal has been to the Ghost Ship once, last summer, and remembered it as a dim and cluttered area with a “maze” of furniture, canvas paintings on the walls and papier-mache hanging from the ceilings.

The Oakland planning a building department said Ion did not request the required permit for Saturday night’s party. We knew people were in there, and we were trying to get them out. “This is complicated, and it is going to take us time to do the methodical, thorough and professional investigation that these families deserve to find out what in fact happened”, she said. She said those numbers came from residents who said these people had not been seen since the fire erupted. The Salvation Army dropped off 50 meals for them, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.