The fire at Ghost Ship, an Oakland warehouse used as an artists collaborative that killed at least 36 people on Friday will spur multiple wrongful death lawsuits, said Fred Pritzker, a lawyer investigating the incident. Days after the fire broke out, firefighters continue the painstaking recovery process, removing rubble from the scene bucket by bucket as anguished family members and friends await word of the fate of their missing loved ones.
Some of those who were trapped in the building texted relatives saying “I’m going to die,” and “I love you,” a spokesman for the Alameda County sheriff’s department said. The bodies of some of the victims were found “protecting each other, holding each other,” he said.
The 17 names of victims identified by the coroner’s office so far are: Cash Askew, 22, David Cline, 24, Travis Hough, 35, and Donna Kellogg, 32, Em Bohlka, 33, Micah Danemayer, 28, Alex Ghassan, 35, Edmund Lapine, 34, Benjamin Runnels, 32, and Jennifer Kiyomi Tanouye, 31, all of Oakland, Calif.; Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, of Coronado, Calif.; Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek, Calif.; Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward, Calif.; Chelsea Dolan, 33, of San Francisco; Feral Pines, 29, of Berkeley, Calif.; Michela Gregory, 20, of South San Francisco; and Jennifer Morris, 21, of Foster City, Calif. The name of the youngest victim identified so far, who was 17 years old, is not being released.
The building in Oakland’s Fruitvale District was permitted as a warehouse, but artists used portions of the main floor as studio space and some reportedly lived there. A fire official described the main floor as a labyrinth of makeshift studios, the maze-like floor plan one of several obstacles impeding safe exit from the building, which had just two exits. At least one person who survived saved the life of others by shouting that he was at the exit and to follow his voice.
Firefighters said they found no evidence of fire sprinklers or smoke alarms. The swiftly moving fire had collapsed the roof of the building onto the second floor and engulfed the only flight of stairs -made of wooden pallets, by the time they arrived on the scene.
After the fire was extinguished, the structural integrity of the remaining walls was so compromised by the intensity of the fire that recovery efforts were halted more than once because of the danger posed to firefighters.
How Did This Fire Start and Were Fire Codes Violated?
Officials say they believe they know where the fire started, but have not yet determined how. They begin that process with the knowledge that the building had a history of problems. At the time of the fire, the building was being investigated by the city for violations, including blight and unpermitted construction. Officials were able to confirm reports of blight, but had not been able to gain access to the building on November 17 to investigate the unpermitted construction, they said during the news conference. That investigation is ongoing and a criminal investigation has been opened.
