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- Desperate search for loved ones
- In pictures: The deadly fire
- Before and after the fire
Oakland fire toll at 36; DA promises ‘thorough’ probe
Oakland, California (CNN)The search for answers continued Tuesday in Oakland as city, state and federal agencies sifted through wreckage in one of the city’s deadliest building fires on record.
Bucket by bucket, investigators painstakingly removed debris from inside the warehouse-turned-art-space, narrowing the fire’s origin to the rear of the building, Oakland Fire Deputy Director Darin White said. By Monday afternoon, about 70% of the building had been cleared.
In another area of the property, the sheriff”s coroner began autopsies on the 36 bodies so far discovered, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern said.
A criminal investigation team from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is on site, working alongside law enforcement, the Oakland Fire Department and federal investigators to ascertain criminal liability, and, if so, who could be responsible, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said.
“It is not clear right now and is too early to speculate,” she said of the circumstances of the fire that broke out late Friday. “We will leave no stone unturned.”
The fire spread so quickly that resident Jose Avalos had no time to help, he told CNN. He was in his loft when he heard someone call for an extinguisher. Before he could get down to offer support, he heard someone say, “Fire! Everyone get out!”
He grabbed his dogs and rushed to the front door where he fell into others trying to escape, he said.
“By the time I was through the front doors, I could just see the flames coming and then they just engulfed the front archway of my studio,” he said. “I looked back and I just saw smoke everywhere. I couldn’t really see anything. Got out of the building and I just saw smoke and then flames coming out the doors and the windows.”
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One of deadliest fires ever in Oakland
It could take weeks to identify victims through DNA and dental records, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Officials have asked victims’ families to preserve their loved ones’ personal belongings, including hairbrushes and toothbrushes, that could contain DNA samples. Kelly added that officials were also working with the transgender community to identify some of the victims.
Drayton, a 19-year veteran, called it one of the deadliest fires in the city’s history, including a 1991 fire in Oakland Hills that killed 25 people.
Southern California artist Anneke Hiatt, who has been monitoring the situation because she had friends there, said she is starting to lose hope.
“It just doesn’t seem that that’s a fire that’s survivable, so the reality, I think for a lot of us, is beginning to set in,” she said.
Concerned family and friends used social media to find loved ones and offer support.
‘I had to let him go’
Gallo knew the owner and the manager of the space and said “we’ve had a good number of conversations regarding the upkeep of the property on the street level/sidewalk level, as well as on the inside.”
Drayton, the fire battalion chief, told reporters Monday that if Oakland police had been called to the warehouse, they might have captured footage that could be useful to the investigation.
“We’re looking at everything from our body-worn camera footage, how many calls we at the Oakland Police Department have gone to, what types of calls, documentation when working with our planning and building department,” she said. “We have a lot of moving parts.”
CNN has reached out to the property owners for comment.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/us/oakland-fire-investigation/index.html