CA - Massive fire at Oakland warehouse party, 36 dead, 2 Dec 2016 #2

[Jax49]

Investigative report from the New York Times:



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/11/us/the-oakland-fire-what-we-know-about-the-warehouse-owner.html

Thank you for linking. Great investigating reporting in both segments published so far, imo.

 

[CARIIS]

​

After Dairy Rich came American Emperor, which distributed copper and cast iron pipes out of the building until 1998.

building stood empty for years, and Ng had a hard time leasing it out.

Squatters moved in and out. There were a few short-term tenants. Artists and musicians came and went, and parties started popping up there in the 2000s.

recalled attending packed raves at the warehouse between 2003 and 2006. There was the usual mix of sweat, pulsing beats, ecstasy, methamphetamine and LSD — he described it as “a makeshift hippie house.”
“It was an interesting place, but it seems to me it was pretty rickety there,

building’s new curators were well-known artists on the Oakland scene — Almena as a photographer and tattoo artist, Allison as a dancer. They had been living in the Oakland hills, where they had been selling marijuana and were known for hosting late-night drum circles.

recreational vehicles — eventually seven,

tenants built out adjacent loft spaces for making art. It felt like a cozy collection of funky little living quarters, residents said. There were narrow lanes weaving through them and talk of naming them, like streets in a village.


“hardly fit through the narrow passageways leading through the building,” which was already stuffed with possessions weeks after Almena and Allison moved in.

People would borrow from each other and help each other out. In that sense, it was amazing,” said the former resident. “I had some of the best times in my life in that warehouse, among friends.”

“There was lots of talk of grandiose, non-achievable goals,” Acevedo said. “I remember thinking ‘These people don’t have the means to pull this off.’”

within weeks the activity at the warehouse started to get on their nerves. The place was noisy. Electronic music pounded into the wee hours. People came and went around the clock, smoking and yelling in front of the building. Debris and lumber piled up out front. Late at night, Almena and other residents would go out scavenging in his truck and filled the warehouse with their finds.
“Things went downhill pretty quickly,” Talon said. “We had a baby and jobs and couldn’t sleep. I didn’t see a whole lot of art happening. There were a lot of parties with a lot of wasted people wandering around.”

Acevedo estimates that he and his wife — the couple have since divorced — called police 50 times over 2½ years. There were regular small fires and fights in the building.

in 2015 — held two “intervention” meetings during her time there to try to get the place back on track. She said Almena and Allison would listen and seem receptive, but nothing was ever done afterward. Mack said she eventually stopped paying rent and was kicked out.


saw a man standing in their yard screaming at the house. Talon went outside and saw that it was Almena.
“He was just yelling at the house about my cat peeing in the warehouse,” she said. “He threatened to murder my cat with a crossbow. He said, ‘I’d be doing you a favor. That animal is a problem.’ I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say.”

“Derick would do things like turn off the power until people did his family’s dishes for him.”


said the landlord knew that upward of 20 people were living there illegally and promised to terminate Almena’s tenancy when his lease expired in 2018.
“He said he was aware of all the problems, but that it had been incredibly hard to lease the space and it wasn’t something he wanted to deal with,”

some evidence that the warehouse was on the upswing in the months before the fire. Almena and Allison have their children back. He said on Facebook that he had been drug free for eight months — and had even quit smoking cigarettes. The former resident, who returned recently to visit, said “the space was a lot cleaner than I had ever seen it.”

Carmen Brita, who moved into Ghost Ship in January 2016 and escaped last week’s fire, said there were three working bathrooms, a shower and hot water


had a kitchen space where she kept a small refrigerator, a futon and a toaster oven.
“From the moment I walked in the door, it was magical,” she said. “It kind of felt like being on a treasure hunt adventure, but also like being in a temple at the same time.”

As many as 30 fire investigators are scouring every inch of the burned-out hulk of the Ghost Ship,

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/What-life-was-like-for-Ghost-Ship-tenants-10788491.php

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/...-warehouse-finshed-as-fire-death-10780261.php

 

[CARIIS]

Just to bounce off of your post, I think it's also important to remember it doesn't take one who is 'weak-willed', drug-addled, or dim-witted to fall prey to a psychopath/abusive personality/malignant narcissist. These types of personalities are so predatory and spend their entire lives perfecting their manipulations. Any type of presumed vulnerability is exposed and exploited to their gain. They learn your biggest hopes, your deepest fears, your beliefs and values - and weaponize every single one of them.

JMO and FWIW

Your writing style is awesome !!!

 

[CARIIS]

IMO there is something haunting about this photo

30 fire investigators are scouring every inch of the burned-out hulk of the Ghost Ship,
investigation itself would take several weeks.

That building houses a Boost Mobile store, a boutique called Moda and a family-owned religious goods shop called Botanica 3 MMM.

city has spent years fining Ms. Ng for what it calls “nuisance or substandard or hazardous or injurious” conditions at the lot south of the warehouse and at the building to the north.

Between 2005 and 2014, Ms. Ng paid $26,570.20 in “code enforcement” fees to the city of Oakland for the lot next to the Ghost Ship.

lawyer named Gerard Lam, who represented Ms. Ng in a previous dispute with a tenant. There’s been no response yet.

Several people who used to live at the Ghost Ship have said Ms. Ng or her daughter would come by the warehouse, first alerting Derick Ion Almena, the man who rented the place from them.

What’s not clear is whether the Ngs entered the building

one business California Chinese Orchestra,

Sum Yee Pastry another one she owns

The Ngs had been good to them, she said, even letting the family skip rent one month after her father died.
But the faulty electricity and the rats had been a real problem, Ms. Martinez said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/11/us/the-oakland-fire-what-we-know-about-the-warehouse-owner.html

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Search-of-Oakland-warehouse-finshed-as-fire-death-10780261.php

full name of owner Chor Nar Siu Ng

 

[MsMarple]

News Conference Tuesday

The team left the fire’s site in the 1300 block of 31st Avenue, but it is still being secured, according to a statement late Sunday afternoon from ATF spokeswoman Alexandria Corneiro.

ATF special agent Jill Snyder, who leads the bureau’s San Francisco field division, plans to address the investigation’s status alongside other partner agencies in an 11 a.m. news conference Tuesday at Oakland’s Office of Emergency Services, 1605 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/11/oakland-warehouse-fire-atf-concludes-work-leaves-site/

Two funerals held on Sunday

Also on Sunday, funeral services were held for two victims of the warehouse fire.

Separate funerals were held in the San Francisco Bay Area for video artist Jonathan Bernbaum and the youngest victim, 17-year-old Draven McGill, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-agency-completes-work-site-oakland-warehouse-blaze-44132231

RIP Jonathan and Draven :rose:

Ara Christina Jo's funeral was Saturday morning.

RIP Ara :rose:

 

[CARIIS]

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have their completed work at the scene of a fatal warehouse fire that broke out during a dance party, killing 36 people.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/us-agency-completes-work-at-site-of-oakland-warehouse-blaze/475174408

 

[CARIIS]

O/T

in middle of Dylan Roof confession - just peculiar, his affect is so off, its truly chilling.

Not really sure if this is a good idea so close to Lunesta time!!



There is something very strange about his "response time" to questions -- really really weird

Dont really know exactly what I expected, as I am watching it is like he is a murderer --but strange.

at times get the chills ugh

 

[CeCeMoore]

First let me say, I have been following this fire since right after it happened and was so sorry to hear that Gitana1 had a family member there. I had read about Jennifer and was already familiar with her story when I came over to WS and discovered the connection. Please accept my deepest condolences, Gitana1.

I have two questions that have been bugging me that I am wondering if anyone can answer.

1. re: this quote I see a lot - "...he could see someone calling for help from second floor window, and tried to get a ladder, but they jumped out the window." - Did this person survive? I am assuming so, but weren't they injured? (no injuries reported)

2. How did they get the RVs into the warehouse? If they had a door big enough to get those in, why was it not opened and used as an exit during the fire?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Hi CeCe....I'm not sure whether the person who jumped out of the window survived or not but I would think they would have been seriously injured. I had assumed they did not survive as there hasn't been any follow up and I would expect the media to glom onto that story in a big way.

Good thought about the rv's.....how did they get them inside GS? I don't believe that question has been asked and it's a good one.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

First let me say, I have been following this fire since right after it happened and was so sorry to hear that Gitana1 had a family member there. I had read about Jennifer and was already familiar with her story when I came over to WS and discovered the connection. Please accept my deepest condolences, Gitana1.

I have two questions that have been bugging me that I am wondering if anyone can answer.

1. re: this quote I see a lot - "...he could see someone calling for help from second floor window, and tried to get a ladder, but they jumped out the window." - Did this person survive? I am assuming so, but weren't they injured? (no injuries reported)

2. How did they get the RVs into the warehouse? If they had a door big enough to get those in, why was it not opened and used as an exit during the fire?

Thanks in advance!

Great questions. Every one of these warehouse buildings I have ever seen were built with large doors where trucks would be able to off load the goods of whatever the warehouse was used for or whatever goods it housed when built. There was always huge doors either the roll up type or those who's doors opened wide left and right for large trucks to be able to gain entry.

In the photo Cariis linked you can see a large opening to the right of the photo. Imo, that is where the huge access doors use to be when it was originally built.

There had to be a large access door/s in order to be able to get the campers inside of the building. Large and wide enough to allow them to be brought inside. So I can only guess that either where the door had originally been it was either boarded up or blocked once the campers were setup inside. Until this case I had never heard about campers being setup inside of any warehouse for living arrangements.

There were so many fire hazards in this warehouse it is mindboggling. With all the generators, propane tanks, overloaded circuit breakers its a wonder if didn't go off like a bomb once the fire started. It seems almost everything they did was a tremendous fire hazard to everyone who entered that maze. The old antique furniture and carpets/rugs would also be a huge ignitor once the fire started. When this type of furniture was made and the older rugs/carpet fire retardant wasn't added like they do in furniture and rugs/carpet now. Everything in there was toxic and highly flammable.

IMO

 

[Thyme]

The garage door.

 

[alsleuther]

Good question about the RVs. If you look at the photo above of the burned out warehouse, it does appear to have a huge opening on the first floor like you would see at a loading dock with a big retractable door. I wonder if the RVs were moved in in previous years and then this was blocked more recently by the living quarters?

Also those big Balinese bed upstairs in Derick's living area? They had to have been carried up the good stair case, not up the rickety pallet one? I guess if he ordered them from overseas maybe they came in pieces in boxes and were assembled on the second floor?

 

[Spellbound]

The second shift of firefighters at the warehouse were rolling up the door and pulling out charred debris — a piano, a sculpture, a sign that read “Come Drink” — to make a path inside
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/11/oakland-fire-ghost-ship-last-hours/

apparently there was was a roll-up door. I wonder if it worked via electrical power? It also seems to have had a lot of things in the way to allow easy access/exit.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The second shift of firefighters at the warehouse were rolling up the door and pulling out charred debris — a piano, a sculpture, a sign that read “Come Drink” — to make a path inside
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/11/oakland-fire-ghost-ship-last-hours/

apparently there was was a roll-up door. I wonder if it worked via electrical power? It also seems to have had a lot of things in the way to allow easy access/exit.

Most doors for warehouses or large shops the rollup door is rolled up by a chain next to the door and let down that way too. They have a metal hook riveted into the steel frame and the chain is linked in it so that it will stay up. My hubby just had a 40x40 shop erected on our property this year and it has two wide fifteen feet high rollup doors (one on the front side and one on one end of it, and it uses the chain mechanism. It glides up and down very easily. I can open and shut the doors myself.

If this door was still existing it had to be blocked or maybe even boarded up with plywood. The firefighters of course would be able to use their hack axes to access the door and gain entry. Its so sad, if this huge opening had been free of all obstructions, I think a lot more people would have been able to escape using that large exit.

 

[Jax49]

The Oakland Fire: What
Happened Inside the Ghost Ship


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/12/us/oakland-warehouse-ghost-ship-fire.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

As reporters from The Times’s graphics department, we wanted to visualize what had happened and give readers a sense of the space where the disaster unfolded. To do this, we began to recreate a 3D model of the interior of the warehouse.

 

[CARIIS]

Kohn local just reported that the warehouse was not required to have an annual inspection??

 

[Spellbound]

Oceanblueeyes, thank you explaining how these doors work.

I did see something about the big roll up door on the FB page for the guy (Ohr) who was "working the door" the night of the fire. Sorry I cannot recall exactly what it was about --- something to do with a robbery or attempted robbery, I think, and how they redid the area after that. So I know it was there whenever he posted it, probably at least a year ago or more.

ETA: correction/clarification
It was a post from August 1, (this year) regarding someone driving a U Haul through front entrance, and pic of before and after they repaired it. I am unclear if this was the big roll up or another entrance.

 

[mom2four717]

My husband has a 5000 sq foot (foot print) warehouse. 14 foot walls and 20 feet at the roof peak.
It has two common sized doors and a 12x12 roll up. He built a second floor office space in one corner and a loft for storage over about an 1/8 of the space. Under the storage loft there are some smaller rooms. One has fabric, one has storage and so on. He has easily had big vehicles in the building that he was building out for a company that wanted a demo on wheels.
He is a scenic artist and paints theatre backdrops and sets, lots of design build. Lots of paint, lots of potential flammable products an area for metal work. A second building of 2500 as feet has the wood shop. This building has two roll up doors.
If he was inclined to there could easily be a second floor with plenty of head room on both levels. His building is what I picture when I think about the Ghost Ship.
We are in PA and there is no sprinklers in the building. He has contract with a fire extinguisher company that keeps those up to date.
The buildings are not zoned for residential at all! There are no requirements for building inspection here. Only for new a new building.

 

[mom2four717]

The Ghost Ship story has disturbed me a great deal. I lived/worked in that area for 30 years. I have looked at housing prices recently and it is pretty shocking. I will never be able to move back from PA.

The vision for the Ghost Ship and early pictures are a beautiful thing. I would have been drawn to it. I understand the appeal.

 

[human]

The garage door.

What is all that stuff on the sidewalk from?