OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The Latest on an Oakland warehouse fire that killed 36 people(all times local):
9:20 a.m.
Oakland’s interim building chief says code enforcement inspectors have not been inside the warehouse where 36 people died in a Friday fire for at least 30 years.
Darin Ranelletti says inspectors only enter buildings when the owner seeks a construction permit or if officials receive a complaint.
At the time of the fire, the department was investigating a complaint and an inspector twice visited the property in November. But records show the inspector reporting an inability to get inside.
Ranelletti says inspectors need to obtain a court order to enter buildings without owners’ permission.
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12:05 a.m.
Federal officials investigating a fire that killed 36 people during a party at an Oakland warehouse plan to bring in engineers to examine the building’s electrical system, as they try to pinpoint the cause of a blaze that has cast a spotlight on similar artists’ colonies around the country that offer cheap housing but unsafe living conditions.
Federal investigators said Wednesday the fire started on the ground floor of the Oakland warehouse and quickly raged, with smoke billowing into the second level and trapping victims whose only escape route was through the flames.
Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said there were no sprinklers or fire alarm system in the building.