Oakland official: Ghost Ship building not inspected in 3 decades

Investigators were beginning to get a sense of the final chaotic moments for the 36 people killed in a fire at a converted Oakland warehouse, as they made progress on the search for the cause of the blaze. 

Oakland’s planning director, meanwhile, admitted that the building had not been inspected for three decades, despite what neighbors said were numerous complaints about accumulated trash, graffiti and other blight. 

The search for bodies ended Wednesday after a final run through with cadaver dogs, and the death toll stands at 36, making it the deadliest structure blaze in California since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. 

But the investigation inside the building at 31st Avenue near International Boulevard is far from over.  As many as 30 fire investigators are scouring every inch of the burned-out hulk of the Ghost Ship, a 160-by-48 foot warehouse-turned-artists-collective where an electronic music event was in progress when the blaze broke out Friday night. 

Jill Snyder, the special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the origin of the fire has been narrowed down to an area in the back of the building on the first floor. 

Alameda County Sherrif's chaplain, Ed Moore, center, attached a balloon to a memorial on E. 12th Street as Oakland Fire Department Chaplain Fr.  Jayson Landez watches, right, as recovery efforts came to a close following the Ghost Ship fire that claimed 36 lives in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, December 6, 2016.  less Alameda County Sherrif's chaplain, Ed Moore, center, attached a balloon to a memorial on E. 12th Street as Oakland Fire Department Chaplain Fr.  Jayson Landez watches, right, as recovery efforts came to a close ... more Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 88 Caption Close Oakland official: Ghost Ship building not inspected in 3 decades 1 / 88 Back to Gallery

There were no smoke alarms in the building, she said, and two makeshift stairwells led up to the second floor where the party was going on.  Neither of the stairwells led to an exit. 

When the fire broke out, Snyder said, smoke and flames climbed the stairwells, overwhelming people on the second floor before they had a chance to escape. 

“There was rapid fire progression,” she said. “ Initial witness interviews have indicated that the fire was well developed by the time the second-floor occupants realized that a fire was going on on the first floor.” 

Snyder said there is no evidence that the fire was arson, but reports that it started in a refrigerator are “not accurate.”  The refrigerator is among a number of electrical appliances, circuits and wiring in the building that are being looked at, she said. 

“We are looking at every possible source of ignition,” she said, adding that evidence collection would probably continue for a few days and the investigation itself would take several weeks. 

Former residents and witnesses described the warehouse as a dangerous environment full of jerry-rigged creations by artists who paid $500 to $1,500 a month to live there.  There was a hodgepodge of makeshift electrical hookups and exposed wires, witnesses said. 

Darin Ranelletti, Oakland’s interim director of planning and building, said inspectors went to the building on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 in response to complaints about blight and an illegal residential structure in a lot adjacent to the warehouse. 

He said an inspector had confirmed the presence of debris on the sidewalk, but was unable to gain access to the warehouse and issued a notice of violation.  Records show that no inspector has actually been inside the building in the past 30 years, he said. 

“We typically work with property owners to get permission to access to property,” Ranelletti said. . “ If they refuse, we would need a warrant from a judge.” 

However, none of the complaints that the city received over the years about the Ghost Ship involved conditions inside the building, Ranelletti said. 

Mark Pazin, the director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said he was stunned when he toured the warehouse Wednesday. 

“It's sobering,” Pazin said. “ It’s excruciating to walk through, to possibly relive those last moments when persons knew there was a fire and there was no way out.” 

Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said emergency workers who are gathering evidence have been extra careful about removing debris from the back of the structure, where there are telltale signs of extreme heat. 

“On that back wall, there was a 45-degree-angle burn, and they need to look at that area very carefully,” Ahern said. The area contained a toaster, a small refrigerator and a slightly larger refrigerator that looked as if it was from the 1950s, he said. 

It is just the type of evidence experts look for when trying to find the source of a fire. 

Brian Dunagan, principal consultant for the IFO Group, a Houston company that specializes in fire investigations, said burn patterns normally lead investigators to the source of a fire.  He said a V-shaped pattern is a clear sign of origin. 

“Fire behavior is fairly predictable,” Dunagan said. “ If the place isn't burned all the way to the ground, the burn patterns will take you back.  At the origin of the fire, that burn pattern, often a V pattern, will be on a wall above the source.” 

He said heat is buoyant and fires burn most intensely high up, which is why people caught in a fire are advised to get as low as possible and crawl, with nose to floor. 

Fatalities, he said, make the investigation all the more difficult.  Before being moved, every body must be photographed and logged, and all nearby evidence collected. 

In 2013, Dunagan said, while investigating a methane explosion in Mexico City that killed 37 people, he found the body of a man with the telltale evidence of the blast’s cause: The man’s hand was still clutching a cigarette. 

“It’s a whole different dynamic when you’ve got a loss of life in a fire,” Dunagan said. “ For one, you are looking at a potential criminal case that has to be preserved.” 

Another factor in the spread of a fire is ventilation, so investigators must find out from firefighters which doors or windows they opened or broke when they arrived. 

“They are lucky they had witnesses.  That’s not something you always have,” Dunagan said. “ But to be thorough, you have to check the whole rest of the building to make sure you’re not being led down a wrong path — because witnesses are notoriously unreliable.” 

Also, egos, jealousy and jurisdictional fights can compromise an investigation when multiple agencies are involved, he said. 

The forensics investigators’ findings could become a part of any criminal charges filed in connection with the fire.  Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has said charges could range from involuntary manslaughter to murder, though she has not named any potential targets. 

Mayor Libby Schaaf promised Wednesday to take “decisive next steps” to ensure all Oakland structures are up to code, with proper exits and smoke alarms.  She said the city’s permitting, reporting and inspection protocols will be reviewed

The mayor said numerous complaints about other structures have come in since the fire. “ We will learn from this tragedy to make Oakland safer,” Schaaf said. 

People have been stopping by the disaster scene nonstop since the fire.  On Wednesday, a woman wearing a brown hooded jacket sat near the dozens of signs, flowers, and candles at Fruitvale Avenue and International Boulevard.  She cried.  She wiped her tears.  She bobbed back and forth, and bowed her head to the ground for minutes at a time. 

An Alameda County sheriff's deputy walked over and tried to comfort her by rubbing her shoulder and briefly standing with her. 

A moment later, she was joined by a woman pushing a baby stroller.  The two, who were strangers to each other, hugged and cried together. “ God bless y’all,” a passerby said as she saw the women embracing. 

Peter Fimrite, Hamed Aleaziz and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers.  Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com, haleaziz@sfchronicle.com and rswan@sfchronicle.com.  Twitter: @pfimrite @Haleaziz @rachelswan