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THE DEATH TOLL from a fire at a California warehouse where a rave party was taking place rose to 33 last night, with the authorities saying they had no idea how many more bodies they may find.
“When we started this investigation, if you would have told us we would have 33 victims, we wouldn’t have believed you,” Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department told reporters, adding that crews had searched less than half of the gutted building.
“I don’t know how many people are left in there. We have no idea how many people were in that building that night,” he said.
We’re expecting the worst and hoping for the best in regards to how many more victims we find.
The fire in Oakland, near San Francisco, broke out about 11:30 pm Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) at the cluttered warehouse where artists and students worked and lived, even though the structure wasn’t licensed for such use.
The electronic dance music party, with between 50 and 100 guests, also took place without a permit.
Although the cause of the fast-moving blaze remains under investigation, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said the district attorney had opened a criminal investigation as a precaution to preserve options as the case unfolds.
“You have to understand that the scope of this tragedy is tremendous,” she said.
We have many, many witnesses to interview. We are in the process of doing that.
Victims as young as 17
Eight victims have been identified based on fingerprints so far, ranging in age from 17 to 35.
Some were from Europe and Asia, and the Oakland authorities are working with the State Department to contact foreign governments, Kelly said, declining to reveal which countries.
Bodies were found scattered throughout the warehouse, known locally as Oakland Ghost Ship.
“We’re finding people throughout the entire square footage of that structure,” Kelly said.
It’s so random. We’re finding victims where we least expect it.
The authorities yesterday asked relatives of the missing to “eliminate future delays” in identifying victims by preserving such items as hairbrushes and toothbrushes for DNA samples.
“We will ask for them as we need them,” said Captain Melanie Ditzenberger of the sheriff’s department coroner’s bureau.
Bucket by bucket
Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed has said the interior of the warehouse was maze-like, “filled end-to-end with furniture, whatnot, collections”.
“There wasn’t a real entry or exit path,” she said.
Images published online show artwork, pianos and wooden objects throughout the building, which helps explain why the blaze raced through the structure despite firefighters’ arrival within three minutes.
Firefighters also said the building appeared to have had no sprinklers or smoke detectors.
Officials said the roof collapsed onto the second floor, which was connected to the ground floor only by a makeshift system of wooden pallets.
A dozen bodies were found in an area in the middle of the building, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton said.
Firefighters had taken every precaution to treat human remains with respect as they cleared debris bucket by bucket, she added.
The fire was the deadliest incident in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, which killed 63 people.
The deadliest nightclub fire in the United States in recent decades occurred in 2003, when pyrotechnic effects by the rock band Great White set off an inferno at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing 100 people.
Oakland, a city of 420,000, was once deemed largely unsafe but is now home to a more affluent population attracted by affordable rents and proximity to San Francisco.
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Heartbreaking. Is that the best that the USA can do, with its huge resources. So many live in abject poverty.
They’d sooner spend their billions on other children from far flung areas of the globe turning them into orphans and refugees. If they don’t care about their own children own whey would they care about anyone elses.
Kid needs to check his privilege.
Congrats to the boy
Poor little boy hasn’t had a great start in life, so many more out there like him, contrast this and the story about little Prince George and it’s just such a shame how one little boy has it all while another little boy has nothing!, hardly seems fair, hope his future is brighter!
Good luck to them all. Tis hard to be a child growing up without a proper home. Hopefully they can make it through.
And people give out about having to stay in hotels
Wow. Poor little guy. And sometimes we have a cheek to complain about silly things
Land of the Brave, Home of the Free. If you can cut it in the rat-race, never get ill, never get tired, never make a mistake. Given this country’s adoration of all things American, look out for a similar story in a venue near you – sooner rather than later.
Has already happened, SDCC evicted a 17 year old girl from her family home on Wednesday morning after the passing of her mother last year. They wouldn’t even let the poor child back in to get her mothers ashes and left her curled up in a ball, in her pyjamas, on the doorstep heartbroken. They told her she wasn’t their concern….. an orphaned 17 year old should be everyones concern.
Ann…i didnt hear about this..tell us more?
Please share more information on this story. Those responsible need to be called to account for their despicable behaviour. We can’t do that with sufficient information.
Scroll down their page – the media is too busying with other stuff!
https://www.facebook.com/Cairdeas-Homeless-Action-Group-768034629939704/?fref=photo
The girl wasn’t actually living in the house ..
You seem to know more than I do Suzie – do you know what the story behind it is? I searched the other night when I came across the post but could find nothing more about it. But the fact remains regardless of whether or not she was living there, her mothers ashes need to be returned to her.
Ann , the young girl is living wuth her grandmother and they were corresponding with her at all times , she knew it was happening so I would say she had her belongings in her grandmother’s house .
When this young ladies mother was alive she used to spend a couple of nights a week in her grannies and the rest of the time at home with her mother. When her mother got sick she stayed with her all of the time. Before her mother passed her gran was diagnosed with a terminal illness and when her mam died she stayed with her granny to look after her while she was sick (and lets not forget this young girl has school and doing her leaving cert). Her grandmother is now dying and in the hospice. In February the council wrote to her and told her that because she was a minor they could not leave her in the house and that as it was a 3 bedroom house it was needed for a family. So it will probably be back to square one when her granny passes.
Free to live in abject poverty. God bless America. It bloody-well needs it.
Contemporary sociologists have a nice cuddly descriptive term for this type of non traditional family unit – “a blended family”. Its essential…mandatory even,to be non judgemental about such social constructs so i will say only…well done.
You know the sad thing about this.
In a decades time some angry feminist or rights group activist will accuse him of having had a privilieged white male existence.
And social media will believe them.
Ireland 5 to 10 years on ?
Land of the free, home of the brave. Shocking how those in most need are let down by society.
For the love of God tell me if I can donate to this family. I don’t have much but I will send what I have. I can’t comprehend what these people have been through. Is this America?
Yeah.
Obama’s America.
Democrat’s America.
thejournal.ie you are way to PC with what people want to say, shame on you.
Ah god she left the buying of his birthday cake til the middle of his birthday party. …..that’s a bit odd
If only the Patriarchy would come to this guy’s rescue
have your say