Oakland warehouse fire death toll rises to 30

“They were losing their loved ones, and there was nothing they could do”. The blaze was the city’s deadliest fire since the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991 that killed 25 people. The Alameda County Sheriff’s department has confirmed that one of their deputies lost a son in the fire. Ray Kelly said more bodies are expected to be found.

So far, Kelly said, it appears that the victims are primarily people in their 20s and 30s. There was no evidence of any smoke detectors or sprinklers, officials said.

“As a strong Oakland community, I know we will come together to help and console our friends and neighbors”, Bonta said in the statement. As of 3:00 p.m., officials have made it through 35 to 40 percent of the building.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said the building was designated for use as a warehouse only. She described Faith, a well-regarded dance music producer, event promoter and radio host, as “one of my closest friends in the world” and “a Bay Area hero for so many people in underground music”.

Watson declined to comment on the conditions of the building at the press conference, stating that officials are now focusing their efforts on the victims and their families.

Speaking to reporters Sunday afternoon, city and county officials said the enormity of the loss in the fire was overwhelming.

Shelley Mack said she lived there about two years ago, staying four or five months.

One survivor, however, said that 18 artists lived inside the warehouse.

The former resident said inside was a maze of fire hazards: a staircase made of wooden pallets, old pianos and couches, trinkets, furniture and ramshackle lean-to shelters.

“We will ask for them as we need them”, said Captain Melanie Ditzenberger of the sheriff s department coroner s bureau. Michael Allison and other family members were able to persuade his daughter, Micah, to go to a drug rehabilitation center in 2015, but Almena talked his way into the rehab center, and convinced Micah Allison to leave with him, Michael Allison said.

What do you think of the Reddit user’s first-hand account of escaping the Oakland Ghost Ship fire? At least a dozen people have gathered there.

The death toll has skyrocketed since crews first arrived on the scene. “It was quiet. It was heart-breaking” Drayton said.

The death toll rose Sunday from 9 to 24. Ray Kelly said. “It’s very tense in there”.

Firefighters have gone through the building searching the debris, “bucket by bucket”, Ms Drayton told a news conference. “We want to make sure we are respecting the victims and their families and ensuring our firefighters’ safety”. Officials believe 50 to 100 people may have been in attendance. Ray Kelly announced the new figure early Sunday.

In the meantime, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said officers have conducted an areawide search, noting license plate numbers of cars that victims may have driven to the warehouse.

At least 33 lives were lost to the deadly fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, Calif. on Friday night, December 2.

The converted warehouse was known as the “Ghost Ship”.

The fire caused the building’s roof to collapse and investigators were having trouble entering parts of the warehouse to search for any remaining bodies because the structure was deemed unsafe, Deloche-Reed said.

The building had been used by artists as a living and work space but had no license for such use, officials said, nor for the electronic dance party under way when the blaze broke out late Friday.