*There’s some really bad news coming out of Oakland, California. Authorities there are getting ready to deal with perhaps 40 or more fatalities after a fire raced through a converted warehouse crowded with people attending a Friday night concert.
So far, nine bodies have been recovered. The search for more victims has been delayed because of safety concerns. Specifically, the building’s roof caved in and debris will make the effort difficult, Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Drones with thermal imaging equipment into the building, according to firefighters.
The warehouse, known as the Oakland Ghost Ship, was a collective where artists lived and worked.
Here’s more from the LA Times:
Artist Bob Mule told KTVU-TV that he tried to help a friend with an injured ankle get out of the burning building but was unable to rescue him. Hours later, he was still searching for his friend.
“It was too hot, too much smoke. I had to get out of there,” he said. “I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn’t get the fire extinguisher to work.”
Fire officials are asking people who were able to escape to contact them so they can get a better sense of how many people are still missing.
The building was the site of a rave Friday night called the Golden Donna 100% Silk 2016 West Coast Tour, according to a concert Facebook page.
Through the early-morning hours, people used the page to seek information about friends and loved ones who attended the concert. Some frantically listed the names of missing people and posted their photos, hoping to learn their fates.
Meanwhile, Oakland’s fire chief, Teresa Deloach Reed told the East Bay Times that most likely there were no smoke detectors or fire sprinklers in the building. She said the fire may have started near a makeshift stairwell, which might have made it more difficult for people to escape.
“There was a stairwell, a makeshift stairway, that would have been hard to get by if the fire started nearby,” she told the paper.
The chief also said firefighters had to make their way into areas “filled end to end” with furniture, art and other belongings. “It was like a maze almost,” she told the East Bay Times.
The Oakland fire chief provided an update on the deadly warehouse fire https://t.co/Pfo7Lht5ss pic.twitter.com/4GGCgz4lAy
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 3, 2016
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