OAKLAND, Calif. _ The meticulous search for bodies in the rubble of the devastating Fruitvale District warehouse fire could be completed by midnight, officials said Tuesday, and the current death toll of 36 is not expected to rise.
Crews completed about 90 percent of their search by 2 p.m. local time Tuesday and were being held up because of one more issue with stability. An exterior wall of the building, better known as the Ghost Ship, must be taken down manually to create a safe space for crews to search the final 10 percent of the building, authorities said.
Oakland Fire Department officials emphasized the exterior wall will fall toward the building but will land on the outer interior. It will not interfere with the area of the building yet to be searched, fire officials said, nor is it near the origin of the fire.
"We will bring closure when we've searched the rest of the 10 percent," Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said. "Without this next step, we cannot finish the next 10 percent.
Fire investigators said Tuesday they have zeroed in on a "point of interest" in the cause of the fire but are not releasing details at this time. The fire began downstairs in the rear of the building and quickly spread upstairs, authorities said.
Crews resumed the search around 2 a.m. Tuesday after officials suspended it around 10:30 p.m. Monday to address another structural concern.
Fire officials were optimistic that they've already removed the last of the bodies.
"I don't anticipate (the number) going up," Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Robert Lipp said. "One area has potential but otherwise no. We're hoping we don't find any more bodies."
The death toll from the state's deadliest structure fire since 1906 remained at 36 on Tuesday. Authorities have identified 26 of the victims and tentatively identified nine of them. One victim remains unidentified.
But details of the fire continue to trickle in. Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of a man and a woman were found hugging. He didn't name them, but previous reports have indicated they could be Michela Gregory and Alex Vega, a San Francisco Bay Area couple who went out dancing at the Ghost Ship on Friday evening.
"It appears as if the male was trying to protect the female, and had her in a fetal position, and they were trapped on one of the motor homes in the facility," Ahern said, later adding, "How touching it is to see a man trying to save a girl who he was in love with."
The autopsies completed so far have found that most of the victims died of smoke inhalation, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said.
"Some of the bodies were partially burned, some were severely burned," Ahern said.
Officials did not release any additional names during two news conferences Tuesday. They made an additional 10 names public Monday night.
The founder of the Ghost Ship collective, Derick Ion Almena, was interviewed at the scene remotely by NBC's "Today" show. In the interview, which aired Tuesday morning, Almena was defensive when asked questions about the dangerous conditions of the building.
"I'm the father of this space," he told "Today" show hosts. "On the night of the fire, did I know there was going to be a fire? Did I remove myself from this space and get a hotel because I wanted to avoid this because I wanted to cast blame on other people. No."
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley suggested Monday that murder charges could be considered in a criminal investigation that was launched over the weekend.
Ahern said around noon Tuesday he expects the search to be done in about 12 hours, but officials have been wary of setting a timeline. Crews won't quit the search until they are convinced there are no other victims inside.
"It won't be until every piece of debris is removed and every part of the building searched," Watson said.
Once the search is complete, the building will be demolished, an Alameda County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.
Search crews have been working 24 hours a day since the fire. While some slowly sift through the debris, others remain outside, building temporary support beams to install into the structure as an added safety measure.
"We're in a bubble here," Alameda Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said. "We're so focused on recovery and the families that we don't know what's going on in the broader world outside of these square blocks."
