This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

An Oakland warehouse in which a fire killed at least 24 people had a history of violations and complaints, city records show.

Numerous formal complaints were filed about the building, according to city records, which included a 14 November “housing habitability” charge regarding “illegal interior building structure”.

Oakland 'Ghost Ship' warehouse fire death toll rises to 24 Read more

The documents did not specify the structural problems at the “Ghost Ship” warehouse, in the Fruitvale neighborhood, but said the city’s investigation into that complaint was still pending when the fire broke out late on Friday.

A former resident of the warehouse, who asked for anonymity because of past confrontations with the building’s management, told the Guardian she reported the building to the fire marshal in 2014, based on fears of a fire.

Friday’s fire broke out while a party was taking place. Late on Saturday, a spokesman for the Alameda county sheriff, Sgt Ray Kelly, said that officials were “expecting the worst” and that two dozen people remained missing. Oakland officials on Sunday increased the death toll from nine to 24 people, as recovery teams resumed their search of the fragile, burned-out building.

Last month, the city of Oakland also issued a violation notice related to a “blight complaint”, records show. That citation referenced garbage “piling up on the property” and items left on the sidewalk.

“Some of trash was hazardous,” the complaint said, adding that the problem was creating a “health issue” for the neighborhood.

The building also faced a blight complaint in 2014, related to trash and “construction debris”. That violation was eventually corrected, according to records.

City councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the Fruitvale district, said building hazards and fire code violations were not uncommon in Oakland.

“It’s throughout these neighborhoods,” said Gallo, who lives near the site of the fire and surveyed the damage early on Saturday morning. “We need to enforce the rules. This is the not the first and maybe not the last.”

Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf told reporters the building was permitted as a warehouse. Darin Ranelletti, the city’s planning and building director, said the city was able to confirm blight reports, but its investigation into illegal construction within the building was not completed.

The building was not permitted for residential living and would have required a special permit for a party, he added, none of which had been issued.

By midafternoon, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were still searching for those reported missing at the warehouse, which was called the “Ghost Ship” by locals and used as an art collective, with workplaces and residences.

Fire department officials described the building as maze-like and cluttered with objects, including wooden pallets and makeshift structures.

The former resident of the warehouse said at least 10 RVs and trailers were inside the warehouse, on top of which people built makeshift shelters, studios and living rooms while using the vehicles for storage.

Throughout the building, she said, were wooden-framed couches, pieces of furniture and other objects, including “over 100 old-school wooden pianos” and “all these little wooden trinkets”.

People would often smoke cigarettes, she said, and they would sometimes fall asleep with them still in their mouths.

“It just looked like a fire waiting to happen,” she said. “It was kind of a scary, weird place, that for me was just not OK.”

Seung Lee, a 26-year-old Berkeley resident who was at the Friday night event just before the fire started, said wood and flammable objects were to be seen throughout the space.

“There were a lot of corridors made of wood,” said Lee, who went to get beer and returned as smoke was engulfing the building. “It was very wooden all around.”

Interior photos show that the space also had wooden beams and columns throughout. Lee said one staircase was made of wood pallets and appeared to be unsafe and hazardous. When he was walking down it, he twisted his ankle, he said.

The former resident of the warehouse said that when she was there, three children, including two younger than 10 years old, lived in the building with the family of the reported management. The children were said to be safe by the building’s reported manager, who wrote on Facebook that they and his wife were at a hotel “safe and sound”.

“Everything I worked so hard for is gone,” he wrote on Facebook. “It’s as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope … to be standing now in poverty of self worth.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Firefighters work amid the aftermath of the fire. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

The man, whose role in managing the building could not be immediately confirmed, did not reply to questions from the Guardian. His name was not listed in public documents associated with the property.

Beneath his Facebook post, someone replied: “This fire is not simply out of left field.”

“The police went into the warehouse [two] years ago and stated very clearly that it is a TINDER BOX,” they continued. “That it should not have so much wood – there are no sprinkler systems in plac[e] – that it is a DANGEROUS PLACE.”

The author later deleted the post.

Oakland is known for its art scene and underground warehouse spaces that sometimes function as “live-work” buildings with studios and makeshift rooms.

In 2015, two people died in a fire in one building where artists had studio space and bedrooms. The city launched an investigation into another live-work space, where residents had raised concerns about possible fire hazards and code violations.