Oakland Warehouse Fire: City Inspectors Hadn't Been Inside Building Where 36 Died In Three Decades

No building inspectors had been inside the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, California, where 36 people died in a fire in at least three decades despite complaints from neighbors about trash, graffiti and other nuisances, officials said Wednesday.

The search for more victims ended Wednesday after cadaver dogs made one last pass. The fire was the worst in San Francisco since the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Inspections are conducted only if a building owner seeks a permit or because of a complaint, Darin Ranelletti, interim director of the Oakland Planning and Building Department. Before the deadly fire broke out Friday night during a dance party, the department was investigating a complaint at the warehouse but an inspector had not been able to get inside. A fire inspector had been in the structure but details of his report were not immediately available, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Ranelletti said none of the complaints filed against the warehouse dealt with conditions inside.

The 36 people who died were trapped on the second floor of the building. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it appeared the fire started on the first floor, and smoke clogged two stairwells, trapping those on the second floor.

The building had no sprinklers or working smoke detectors.

Jill Snyder of the ATF’s San Francisco office said there was no indication of arson but it was too early to say what started the fire. Several sources of ignition are being considered but earlier reports blaming a faulty refrigerator were inaccurate, she said.

“There was rapid fire progression,” she said. “Initial witness interviews have indicated that the fire was well developed by the time the second-floor occupants realized that a fire was going on on the first floor.”

Documents released Wednesday indicated nearly two dozen building code and other complaints had been filed in the past 30 years. Some of the complaints dealt with the building being used as residences while others alleged structures were built without permits. The building was zoned only for commercial use.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said she would form a task force to come up with recommendations for improving enforcement of building and fire codes.

The warehouse, owned by Chor N. Ng, housed an artists collective. Derick Ion Almena had rented the space.

Tearful relatives stood outside the burned-out structure Tuesday, hugging as recovery workers combed the debris.