This photo taken from video provided by @Oaklandfirelive shows the scene of a fire in Oakland. Photo / Twitter
This photo taken from video provided by @Oaklandfirelive shows the scene of a fire in Oakland. Photo / Twitter
Authorities in the San Francisco Bay Area say they are prepared to deal with up to 40 deaths after a fire broke out at a warehouse party in Oakland, California.
Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloche-Reed said some people escaped and that between 50 and 100 people were at the warehouse at the time of the fire. The warehouse had been partitioned into several artist studios and was packed with furniture, mannequins, lamps, and other objects.
Deloche-Reed says the building didn't have a clear exit path and that the only way out of the second floor was a makeshift stairwell made of pallets.
Fire officials say the building was not equipped with sprinklers. Kelly says firefighters are still extinguishing hot spots from the blaze that sparked around 11:30pm local time during an event advertised as 'Rave Cave'.
The two-storey building houses a group of artists and their studios, officials said.
The artists' studios were separated by makeshift partitions, and the second floor - where most of the bodies were found - was especially difficult to navigate, Deloche-Reed said.
"There wasn't a real clear entry or exit path up on the second floor," she said. "The way the building was situated, it really made it difficult for people to escape."
There is no evidence that smoke detectors were activated.
Building resident Bob Mule, a photographer, escaped the blaze and tried to help a friend get out, too - but the flames grew too intense and he was forced to evacuate alone.
"It was too hot, too much smoke. I had to get out of there," he told the East Bay Times.
"I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work."
The event's Facebook page is now filled with people inquiring if their loved ones have been accounted for. Some asked how they can help.
A list of people who were missing have been created on a Google docs spreadsheet, along with any identifying features and their loved ones' contact numbers. Twenty-seven names are listed on the spreadsheet; one has been found safe, while two are in the hospital.
Deloach-Reed said fire officials will verify those names against the ones they have.
Firefighters assess the scene during daylight after a fire tore through a warehouse party. Photo / AP
A total of 72 firefighters responded to the fire, Deloach-Reed said. Crews had to fight the blaze from outside because it was too hot and too intense for firefighters to go inside the building, she said.
Battalion Chief Lisa Baker said three sides of the building were on fire, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Deloach-Reed told the East Bay Times that most of the nine people who were killed were found on the second floor of the building. She told The Post that the warehouse used to have one floor, but a makeshift ladder and another floor had been added.
Deloach-Reed said the fire has been extinguished, and crews are currently on standby waiting for a county task force and fire investigators to arrive.
She said this is the worst fire the city has seen since the Oakland hills firestorm that killed 25 people in 1991. That fire, which rapidly spread through the Oakland hills wiped out nearly 3,500 homes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
