California governor expresses sadness in fire

“It is just not like him”, Mr Vega said. “At that point, once the building is somewhat safe for us to go in, our coroner’s personnel will go in and begin the recovery process”, said Kelly.

“I didn’t really know people lived upstairs, though I saw some people coming out sometimes ” she said.

Some people have posted images and messages on Facebook of people they believe are missing, while other have posted that they had escaped safely. On Nov. 13, a complaint was filed regarding “a ton of garbage piling up on the property” neighboring the warehouse, with some of trash described as possibly “hazardous”; on the following day, city inspectors seem to have examined the building in response to an “illegal interior building structure” complaint. The city has not confirmed people were living inside.

Photos and videos at the scene show the warehouse name still visible, in pink lettering on the front of the fire-blackened concrete wall. “We’ve just spent the night calling hospitals and listening to police scanners”.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf released a statement late Saturday morning: “Last night’s fire was an huge tragedy”.

Dozens remain unaccounted for and authorities fear the death toll could rise dramatically.

Authorities say arson investigators and other fire experts will comb through the rubble of a fire in Oakland, California, that killed at least nine people.

Reportedly 30 to 70 people were in the venue when the fire broke out, according to fire officials. He says he didn’t know about the party and that he learned of the fire from friends who came to his house.

Rolando Jacobo, 41, owner of nearby memorial headstone store Oakland Monuments, opened at 10 a.m. but had spent most of his morning standing outside his store, watching firefighters pull debris from the burned-out warehouse.

A vigil service will also be held from 5 to 7 p.m.at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, 4499 Piedmont Ave.

Reed said the building “was kind of like an artist studio” that had partitions where artists worked.

Deloach Reed told reporters that there appeared to be “only one way” up to the building’s second floor, where the majority of the bodies were found.

The building was still smoldering at midday Saturday.

“Before” pictures from inside the artist conclave in a converted Oakland, California warehouse where as many as 40 people died in a fire late last (Friday) night provide important evidence into why this tragedy occurred.

“We are hoping that the number nine is what there is and that there are no more”, she said.

Most of the dead were on the second floor, Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said, adding that people would have had difficulty leaving when the fire started because the pallet stairway was the only way to descend from the second floor.

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, a nonprofit organization based in neighboring San Francisco, set up a YouCaring page to raise funds to support the Bay Area arts community.

Officials said the building was not equipped with sprinklers. The cause is unclear.

“One of the issues was that leading up to the second floor there was only one way up and down”, the fire chief told reporters. Mule said he tried, but couldn’t do it.

Oakland police urged those concerned about missing people to call the Alameda County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau at 510-382-3000.