At least nine people died when a fire raced through an Oakland, Calif., warehouse crowded with people attending a Friday night concert, officials said.
Oakland fire officials said Saturday morning that some people were still unaccounted for.
"We are up to nine known fatalities," Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said at the fire scene in the city's Fruitvale neighborhood. "There is still a lot of the building that needs to be searched."
Officials believe scores of people were inside the warehouse when the fire broke out.
Witnesses said the warehouse was a collective where artists live. Artist Bob Mule told KTVU-TV that he tried to help a friend with a broken 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."
The building was the site of a rave 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.
Deloach Reed told the East Bay Times that it appears there were no smoke detectors or 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 said.
Deloach Reed 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 said.
There appeared to be "only one way" up to the building's second floor, where the majority of the bodies were found, she said. The stairway "was kind of like ... they put it together with pallets," Deloach Reed said in a television interview.
