OAKLAND, Calif. _ Federal investigators have ruled out a refrigerator as the cause of the fatal Ghost Ship fire last week, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives official said Friday, but agents still suspect the cause of the inferno was electrical.
"Everything else electrical in the scene" is still being looked at, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the ATF's San Francisco Office. She said investigators looked at the refrigerator first, following media reports that it may have been the cause of the nation's deadliest fire in 13 years. Thirty-six people died.
She said investigators are still tracing electrical wires throughout the building.
Warehouse owner Chor Ng also owns the building next door, which has store fronts on both 31st Avenue and International Boulevard, records show.
Jake Jacobitz, who lived at the Ghost Ship, said he did electrical work there. He calls himself an electrician, but there is no listing for a person by that name having a state electrician's certificate from the Department of Labor.
Electrical breakers blew out frequently in the collective, he said. He said Derick Almena, the group's leader, installed his own electrical boxes from a meter shared by Ghost Ship and neighboring stereo and mobile phone shops.
All of the Ghost Ship's power came from a single line punched through a wall, Jacobitz said.
City Councilman Noel Gallo said he saw the same setup. He was there when power was cut off after the fire, he said. "There was one meter feeding in the whole warehouse operation."
"The property owner (received) the bill so she would come to the artists; she would come to the mechanics shop; and she would come to the other little shops," Gallo said. "She would say based on the bill I got you owe $200 this month, you owe me $300 and based on the bill you owe $50.
"She knew all the activity that was going on," Gallo said of Ng, who he has repeatedly said this week bears much responsibility for the inferno.
A Pacific Gas and Electric spokeswoman said this week that the utility reviewed 10-plus years of records and have no reports of electricity theft or "any anomalies from this location or the adjacent premises."
Ng's daughter, who has spoken for her since the fire, did not immediately return a phone call Friday.
