3:00pm PST Press Conference – As a follow-up to the earlier discussion – Officials in Oakland California are now stating the death toll has risen to 33 with approximately 40% of the warehouse searched. Search and recovery teams still have well over half of the warehouse to search.

Fire officials note they were forced to break the warehouse down into four quadrants and they have found bodies in each of the four areas. The recovery efforts continue within a very difficult crime scene. Some of the victims are teenagers 16, 17 or perhaps younger.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf

The ctrl-left (extremely far-left) liberal Oakland city politicians -including the inept liberal Mayor Libby Schaaf- are fraught with predictable political correctness, plausible deniability, and efforts to avoid their own responsibility in the events that allowed the illegal use of a non-residential building.

During the 6:00pm (EDT) press conference Mayor Schaaf stated she has made every effort in her administration to make Oakland a “safe space” for artists, musicians, and a liberally minded constituency. Obviously failing to see the irony in her statement, Schaaf reaffirmed her intention to continue this endeavor.

OAKLAND – Melinda Drayton, Oakland Fire Department battalion chief, said firefighters breached a wall overnight and were attempting to systematically and safely remove debris “bucket by bucket” from the battered building. She said firefighters had not yet reached the location where the fire began, and investigators were far from determining the cause of the blaze. “This will be a long and arduous process,” she said. “We want to make sure we are respecting the victims and their families and ensuring our firefighters’ safety.” […] City officials have confirmed that building authorities had opened an investigation just last month into complaints about the safety of the structure. That inquiry was ongoing when the fire struck. Planning and Building Director Darin Ranelletti said the building’s owners had no permits to hold parties or create living spaces in the building. He said a department inspector had attempted to enter the building last month while responding to a complaint but was unable to gain access. (read more)

OAKLAND – The death toll from a fire at an illegal California rave jumped to 33 Sunday after crews scoured through only a small section of the smoldering rubble from a wrecked warehouse.

Searchers found 33 bodies in the rubble of the so-called “Ghost Ship” warehouse in Oakland, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. He said the search for victims could span another two days, and authorities fear up to 40 casualties could be found.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and the district attorney’s office said a criminal investigation is underway.

“We are doing the identification (process) as fast as we can,” Kelly said at a press conference. Some of the identified victims’ ages, Kelly says, ranges from children as young as 17 to adults in their 20s and 30s.

Kelly said the “astronomical” death toll was likely to keep rising and it would take days to identify the victims, some of whom were burned beyond recognition. No casualties have been named.

Crews were still in a “long and arduous” process of digging through debris from the Friday night fire, Oakland Battalion Chief of Fire Melissa Dayton said. After two days, firefighters had only cleared one-fifth of the building’s ruins, she said. (read more)