Obama mourns as Oakland fire death toll reaches 36

The warehouse where at least 36 people died in a massive fire Friday night has been deemed too unsafe and unstable for emergency workers, prompting fire officials to temporarily halt search efforts that have now stretched into a fourth day.

The one many are now pointing people toward is the Gray Area Foundation for the Art’s Fire Relief Fund for Victims of Ghostship Oakland Fire, which you can donate to here. Before he could get down to offer support, he heard someone say, “Fire!”

They were expecting to find more bodies as they advanced, he added. City officials say the first floor had been converted to impromptu – and unlicensed – artist studios and living spaces while most of the second floor was an open area used for concerts and parties. Not only that, but it did not have sprinklers or the number of exits that it should have for what’s called an “assembly” space.

The cause of the blaze, which erupted late Friday in a building that was home to an artists’ collective known as the “Ghost Ship”, has yet to be determined.

Ghassan is a father of two.

“I just want to go over there”. Almena was criticized by members of the community who said they’d warned him previously about the risk of fire. Ray Kelly said that the deceased also include teenagers and a deputy’s son.

The district attorney’s sent a team to search for signs of a crime in the warehouse that was already under investigation by the city for possible code violations.

The city was aware of reports that people were living there, but no permits had been issued for that goal, Darin Ranelletti, the city’s buildings and planning chief, said on Saturday. As of Monday morning, 11 of the dead had been identified, police said.

The death toll in the warehouse fire is expected to rise, but it will be days before recovery crews can access the entire structure, officials said.

“The unfortunate reality of this somber Monday morning is that we’re anticipating additional bodies being recovered within the structure”, Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed told Good Morning America.

Danielle Boudreaux, a 40-year-old hairdresser, said she became fast friends with the couple when they met eight years ago before a falling out about a year ago over conditions at the warehouse.

Neither Almena nor Allison answered telephone calls placed to numbers associated with them. “They jumped off the second-floor balcony and ran out”.

“Something as simple as a cigarette could have started this”, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt.

The statement said the building was designated for use as a warehouse only.

“The whole place was built like you are going to set up for a fire”, said Matt Hummel, 46, who has worked in construction and helped renovate other warehouse spaces for artists.

Almena is believed to have lived in the warehouse with his wife and three children but he said he was not staying there the night of the fire.

Officials are still unsure how many people were inside when the blaze broke out. The fire department said that the building was maze-like and cluttered with objects, and attendees noted that the few exits were hard to locate. “Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel safe and sound … it’s as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope ….to be standing now in poverty of self worth”.

He recalled both his daughter and Almena laughing over another episode in which partygoers at one of their gatherings trashed a social hall by flinging cans of paint on walls and furniture.

Relatives, friends and former colleagues said Almena loved to surround himself with followers, but seemed to care little for their well-being. “The fire was just getting too hot and the smoke was just getting too bad and I had to leave him there”.

Shelley Mack, a jewelry maker who lived at the Ghost Ship until February 2015, said she paid $700 to move in and another $700 for improvements that never came. People were saying ‘Maybe he didn’t know people were dead at that time, ‘ no, he knew.