OAKLAND, Calif. _ Authorities said they were preparing to deal with dozens of fatalities after a fire raced through a converted warehouse crowded with people attending a Friday night concert, officials said.
Nine bodies were recovered by Saturday afternoon, but Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said officials were prepared for up to 40 fatalities.
Firefighters were beginning to move through the burned-out remains looking for victims. The building's roof caved in, and debris made the effort difficult, Kelly said. Firefighters planned to use drones with thermal imaging equipment to search the building.
The cause of the fire wasn't known. While arson is not suspected, Kelly said nothing has been ruled out. Officials said the warehouse isn't considered a crime scene.
Officials believe it is likely there are more fatalities because there are friends and family who still have not heard from some people who attended the rave.
"This is just a tragedy, and there are no easy answers," Kelly said. "This not an easy task."
Witnesses said the warehouse, known locally as the Oakland Ghost Ship, was a collective where artists lived and worked.
Artist Bob Mule told KTVU-TV that he tried to help a friend with an injured ankle get out of the burning building but was unable to rescue him. Hours later, he was still searching for his friend.
"It was too hot, too much smoke. I had to get out of there," he said. "I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn't get the fire extinguisher to work."
Fire officials asked people who were able to escape to contact them so they can get a better sense of how many people are still missing.
The building was the site of a rave Friday night called the Golden Donna 100% Silk 2016 West Coast Tour, according to a concert Facebook page.
Through the early-morning hours, people used the page to seek information about friends and loved ones who attended the concert. Some listed the names of missing people and posted their photos, hoping to learn their fates.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, firefighters dismantled one of the doors to the blackened building, which was covered with graffiti and had the word "GhostShip" painted outside. Sidewalks in front of the building were strewn with couches, window frames and other debris.
Rolando Jacobo, 41, owner of nearby memorial headstone store Oakland Monuments, opened at 10 a.m. but had spent most of his morning standing outside his store, watching firefighters pull debris from the burned-out warehouse.
"I saw the fire when I was passing on the freeway last night, and I didn't know if it was my building on fire," he said.
Lee Leon, 50, a custodian at the Native American Health Center, got a call at 2 a.m. from a friend who also was driving on the freeway and saw the fire. Leon arrived at the Health Center, about a block away from the fire, shortly after 2. He took photos and called his boss to let him know that the Health Center was fine.
Both Leon and Jacobo said neighbors knew that the warehouse was used as an art studio and that people lived there. The warehouse often held private events "such as art shows," but Leon, who has worked at the center for 17 years, said the residents were "low key."
Deloach Reed told the East Bay Times that it appears there were no smoke detectors or fire sprinklers in the building. She said the fire may have started near a makeshift stairwell, which might have made it more difficult for people to escape.
"There was a stairwell, a makeshift stairway, that would have been hard to get by if the fire started nearby," she told the paper.
The chief also said firefighters had to make their way into areas "filled end to end" with furniture, art and other belongings. "It was like a maze almost," she told the East Bay Times.
Deloach Reed told reporters that there appeared to be "only one way" up to the building's second floor, where the majority of the bodies were found.
That stairway "was kind of like ... they put it together with pallets," Deloach Reed said on CBSN-TV.
