OAKLAND — In early January, almost three months before Monday’s fire killed four people when it ripped through a low-income apartment building, a fire captain was so alarmed by the hazardous conditions inside that he recommended the place be shut down, according to emails obtained by this news organization. But the city’s assistant fire marshal wouldn’t go along,

“I recommend that we consider shutting this building down immediately due to the danger to life safety,” fire Capt. Richard Chew wrote in a Jan. 8 email about 2551 San Pablo Ave. that was forwarded to Fire Marshal Miguel Trujillo and Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini.

By Feb. 25, almost two months after Chew’s first warning, the emails grew more urgent, with one lieutenant pleading with his superiors to let him know what he can do to “get this place shut down, updated and repaired.”

Despite promises to do better after 36 people died in the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship warehouse tragedy, with critics blasting the fire department’s erratic inspection performance, Sabatini decided not to shutter the San Pablo Avenue building, but rather give the owners time to make fixes and allow the local engine company to monitor the situation until “the time that more Code Inspectors are available.”

The explosive emails also contradict the timeline provided earlier this week by Oakland officials, when they said that fire inspectors first learned of the building’s hazards Feb. 25. Inspectors finally inspected the building March 24, three days before the fire, and found many of the same hazardous conditions as before.

The stunning delays revealed through the emails, and the deaths of 40 people in the two fires over four months, led Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth on Friday to announce sweeping changes to the Fire Inspection Bureau. Schaaf vowed to overhaul the department, including doubling its size by adding six fire inspectors.

“The San Pablo Avenue Fire is another tragedy that reveals the urgent need to overhaul our inspection process,” Schaaf said in a statement. “The two tragic fires over the last months highlight the critical importance of leadership, training, technology and staffing at our Fire Department; today’s actions address those needs.”

It was a much stronger stance from the mayor who earlier this week told the San Francisco Chronicle that the March 24 San Pablo Avenue building inspection report did not have violations that would necessitate an emergency shutdown.

“I was informed that the violations in the most recent inspections were ones that required a 30-day notice,” Schaaf said in a phone interview Friday. “That is still the case. I am not a fire inspection professional, so I have to stick with what I am told.”

“I found the email correspondence extremely disturbing,” Schaaf added. “It further underlines the need for us to strengthen our systems and address the lack of resources. That is something that has been in the works since the Ghost Ship fire.”

January visit

After responding to a medical call at the building Jan. 8, Engine Company 15 found “open piles of garbage” on the third floor, fire alarm pull boxes had been activated but never reset, and a door to a fire escape was padlocked, according to emails.

After receiving Chew’s recommendation to evacuate the building, Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter told him to cut the padlock and reach the building manager to have the garbage removed immediately, and to fix the alarm system “as soon as possible,” copying Sabatini in the email.

A day later, Sabatini told firefighters to give the property owner 30 days to repair the alarm system, but she suggested that Station 15 firefighters return promptly to the building. If nothing improved, she told them to notify her office.

Later that day, Capt. Chris Landry noted during a visit to the building that there were no fire extinguishers, heavy debris in front of the electrical meters on one side of the building, inlet covers on fire sprinklers were missing, and an isolation valve appeared to be closed, meaning some sprinklers would not have any water in the event of a fire.

It’s unclear if any corrections were made at the building over the next 47 days, until Feb. 25 when the same Station 15 engine company responded to another medical call there.

‘This building is dangerous!’

Lt. Steve Padgett did not mince words when describing conditions to his colleagues. Although the first violations were found on the third floor, which sources have said were overrun with squatters, Padgett said there were serious problems on the first floor, as well, including “no fire extinguishers, storage in the hallways, faulty or unmaintained smoke detectors.”

“This address is a known fire hazard,” Padgett wrote Trujillo, Sabatini and other inspection bureau staff in his Feb. 25 email. “This building is dangerous!”

Hunter responded to Padgett’s email the same day, and asked Sabatini for an update on the Fire Prevention Bureau’s efforts to mitigate the hazards in the building. There was no email response.

Finally, on March 18, a different engine company responded to an incident at the building and noted numerous hazardous conditions.

The inspection

On that day fire department Lt. Frank Mui wrote Hunter that his crew found a household extension cord running from the second to the third floor via the central stairway, evidence of rodents chewing through those cords, no hall lighting on the third floor, exposed wiring from a wall, darkened exit signs and debris cluttering the first floor.

Hunter again implored Sabatini in an email to respond to the hazardous conditions there.

“Lt. Mui on Engine 1 responded to this building today … and found that the issues Lt. Padgett brought to the (Fire Prevention Bureau’s) attention almost a month ago still exist and seem to be getting worse,” Hunter wrote on March 18. “Is the (Fire Prevention Bureau) in contact with the property owner to get these violations corrected?”

He continued, “Please advise. The building appears to be hazardous to both our public and our firefighters.”

Sabatini responded on March 24 and told Hunter that she and two other inspectors walked through the building earlier that day and presented the owner with a list of deficiencies.

“This is the beginning of a coordinated effort along with Building Services to address the issues at this location,” she wrote.

Three days later — and 78 days after the first firefighter recommended shutting the entire building down — fire tore through the building, sparked by a candle in a unit which had no electricity, sources said. Four residents were killed and more than 80 are scrambling to find a place to live.

Sabatini did not return a call Friday.

Landreth said the fire department has been ordered to make a coordinated effort “to catch up on the backlog of inspections, with urgent priority on known problem properties, in close coordination with building inspectors.”

Mayor Schaaf on Friday said the city is speeding up the process of hiring a new fire chief and requiring training for all fire staff on the policies for shutting down problematic buildings, known as “blue tags.” The city has been without a permanent fire chief since Teresa DeLoach Reed filed for retirement earlier this month.