More Victims Named in Oakland Warehouse Fire That Killed 36

Bay Area artists and community members are blaming the Oakland warehouse fire, which killed at least 36 people, on the high local rents that make finding housing and artists’ spaces hard.

“For us as firefighters, to work under a wobbly, potentially collapsing exterior wall is extremely unsafe”, Oakland Fire Department Chief Melinda Drayton said at a press conference today. Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed told reporters Monday that the facility appeared to function as a residential building and hosted a makeshift artists’ studio as well as parties like the one that took place Friday night.

The fire broke out during a dance party Friday night, killing 36 people.

Prosecutors say they are investigating the warehouse fire that killed 36 people, and murder charges are possible.

Boos and calls to resign greeted Mayor Libby Schaaf, whom some have criticized as emphasizing the warehouse’s code violations in the hours immediately after the fire, instead of the shortage of affordable housing.

(City of Oakland via AP). “Our condolences go out to family and friends”.

She added the area has been “quarantined off for additional investigation” once firefighters are able to enter the two-story building again, after an excavator is brought in to stabilize what’s left of the warehouse.

Overnight, authorities released names of seven victims that had been identified.

Chris Nechodom, 30, a photographer and filmmaker from Richmond, Calif., was visiting a friend on the first floor of the warehouse when the fire started.

KGO-TV reports (http://abc7ne.ws/2haQY4d ) it tracked down Derick Ion Almena and Micah Allison, the mother of his children who helped him run the building, late Sunday at a Marriott hotel in Oakland. City officials have said he wasn’t allowed inside.

On Monday, authorities said they have identified a total of 11 victims. “This tragic event consumes me every moment”. She declined to say who her team has interviewed.

Almena says he lived in the warehouse with his family and other residents, but said he didn’t make a profit.

Earlier, Ewing said Jo’s friends and family had already started talking about the vibrant 29-year-old Oakland artist in the past tense, but needed confirmation.

Authorities increased the confirmed death toll progressively over the weekend, and on Monday morning Melinda Drayton, battalion chief of the Oakland Fire Department, said “we absolutely believe that the number of fatalities will increase” as the rescue workers dig through the rubble. Ray Kelly said it could take weeks to identify the victims.

Har reported from San Francisco.