OAKLAND, Calif. _ The nation's deadliest fire in 13 years raged for some time before the people doomed by it were aware of what was happening, authorities said Wednesday.
The Fruitvale District warehouse fire at the artists collective known as the Ghost Ship killed 36 people. The search for bodies and evidence concluded late Tuesday night. The death toll did not rise as crews combed through the final 10 percent of the building after tearing down a corner wall piece by piece with a crane.
The blaze marks the worst fire disaster in the United States since The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I., on Feb. 20, 2003, killed 100 people.
Of the 36 victims in the Ghost Ship blaze, 35 have been identified. A new list of names was released Tuesday night, and authorities indicated it will take DNA samples and additional time to identify the 36th.
The names of two more victims were released Wednesday afternoon: Jason McCarty, 35, and Wolfgang Renner, 61, both Oakland residents. So far, twenty-eight of the 36 names have been identified publicly.
At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, authorities said the warehouse did not have fire alarms or a sprinkler system, and that they still have not determined what caused the building to go up in flames around 11:32 p.m. on Friday.
Investigators Tuesday were focusing on a swath of electrical appliances and appeared to be eyeing a refrigerator in the back of the warehouse. But spokeswoman Special Agent Jill Snyder of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cautioned that the agency has not pinpointed any official reason.
"There's been a lot of misinformation lately from the media circulating regarding the refrigerator as the cause of the fire. This is not accurate," she said. "The refrigerator is still being examined, but has not been determined to be the cause of the fire. I just want to make that clarification. ... We're looking at every possible source of ignition, but no conclusion has been made at this time as to what the source of ignition is."
After the fire started, it spread quickly, Snyder said. The smoke moved up stairwells from downstairs, overwhelming the people who were at a dance party. The fire was well underway before those on the upper floor knew about it, Snyder said.
The warehouse also lacked a sprinkler system, alarms or a fire escape, Snyder said. Two indoor stairwells went from the second floor to the first, but neither led to an exit, she said.
Chief Mark Pazin of the Law Enforcement Branch of the Office of Emergency Services praised the response of state and federal agencies to the fire, saying "the system works."
ATF experts, engineers, firefighters and other city employees remained at the scene Wednesday, and city officials were expected to release additional information at a later news conference.
Crews continued to sift through debris past 8 a.m. on Wednesday, five days removed from the start of the fire at the warehouse on 31st Avenue, near the corner of International Boulevard. The debris will be preserved for evidence, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said.
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