OAKLAND — The owner of the Ghost Ship warehouse where 36 people perished earlier this month has had a business license at that Fruitvale address for more than two decades, a city official confirmed Thursday, yet firefighters charged with inspecting Oakland’s commercial businesses never reviewed the building.

Chor Ng, 62, filed for the business license in 1995 on her property at 1315 31st Ave., writing on the form that she wanted to operate a “commercial rental,” said Margaret O’Brien, Oakland’s revenue and tax administrator. The property owner was up to date on her annual business taxes, O’Brien said.

The revelation that Ng had taken out a business license further highlights the lack of coordination and communication between the city agencies responsible for inspecting commercial buildings, as well as the department responsible for registering businesses in the city.

“We’re looking at all the processes and data streams and how we can better coordinate,” said Karen Boyd, a city spokeswoman.

One procedure already identified is allowing firefighters “read-only access” to her department’s business license database, O’Brien said, which could start as early as Monday. On Thursday and Friday this week, coincidentally, the entire business license system was moved to a new, more user-friendly software system, allowing the public to view documents online starting Dec. 23.

The business license application is only the first step in opening a commercial enterprise. In addition to filing applications for building permits or a fictitious business name, if Ng had wanted to operate a legitimate business at the warehouse, either she or her tenants would have also needed to file paperwork for a fire department permit. A fire department permit would automatically notify the fire prevention bureau for an inspection.

Late on Dec. 2, a fast-moving fire engulfed Ng’s warehouse while a dance party was just getting started on the second floor. The Oakland fire chief on Tuesday acknowledged what this newspaper had reported earlier — no firefighters had ever inspected the Ghost Ship warehouse. The city has begun asking fire experts how they can improve their inspection program.

Oakland firefighters are charged with annually inspecting commercial businesses. But Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said some entities don’t always make her department’s database, such as the Ghost Ship, which never filed permits to allow people to live there or to hold special event permits such as the dance party. She stressed that firefighters would not inspect an empty warehouse.

“We do not inspect buildings, we inspect businesses, so if there was any indication of an active business we would go and … inspect,” Reed said at the news conference. “In this case, there was no indication from inspectors that this was an active business.”

Bruce Nielsen, a retired Oakland fire battalion chief serving 32 years with the department, said business licenses would often provide leads for the department to inspect a certain building.

“A lot of time we get our ticklers from a business license,” he said.

In 2014, the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury found that Oakland failed to inspect more than a third of the roughly 11,000 businesses in the city. The business inspection program, where firefighters inspect businesses between service calls, is not mandated by state code. The city agreed with grand jury’s findings, blaming staffing cuts.

Even if not operating like a typical business, warehouses can still be fire hazards. The state fire code requires special care when combustible substances are stacked for storage on pallets, racks or shelves. That includes tires, and flammable liquids. Aisles must be 48 inches wide and clear of debris so people can flee and firefighters can operate. With “high-pile storage,” a fire detection system must be installed and no smoking allowed.

Reed has not mentioned whether her department uses business licenses as a tool by the department to flag potential building inspections.

Ng has a history of liens against her properties, including several for not cleaning up a vacant lot that abuts the warehouse. She paid more than $20,000 in code enforcement fees on property tax bills between 2008 and 2014.

Records show Ng sometimes missed deadlines to pay property taxes, resulting in liens that she later paid. She last paid $3,000 in property taxes on the warehouse in February, records show. Calls and emails to Ng and her family were not returned Thursday. There was no answer at three homes in the Bay Area associated with her family.