Los Angeles: Details emerged of desperate text messages sent by some of the 36 victims of the California warehouse fire on Tuesday, as authorities said a faulty fridge may have caused the blaze.
Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern told reporters that one mother had shared a text message she had received from her daughter as the tragedy unfolded late Friday.
“Mom, I’m dying,” the message said.
Sergeant Ray Kelly, spokesman for the sheriff’s department, said deputies had spoken at length with families of the victims about their loved ones’ harrowing final moments.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with family members, very intimate conversations about the last moments that they may have talked to their child or their loved one and those are things that will probably (stay) with us for the rest of our lives as we go forward and try to heal from this,” he told local television.
“Kids were texting their parents and telling them that they loved them and that they were going to die.”
Authorities believe some of the victims were unable to flee the inferno at the warehouse in Oakland known as the “Ghost Ship” because of metal security bars on the windows that trapped them inside.
The warehouse had been converted into an artist collective that was hosting a rave party when the fire broke out and ripped through the building within minutes. Between 50 and 100 people were attending the party.
By Tuesday afternoon, firefighters had cleared 90 percent of the debris and officials said they doubted anymore victims would be found.
Musicians and artists
One of the casualties was a 17-year-old boy who was the son of a sheriff’s deputy. The others were all in their 20s and 30s and included artists, musicians, teachers, a poet and a filmmaker.
The manager of the warehouse said he was sorry for the tragedy, adding that he did not believe he should be held accountable.
“I’m only here to say one thing, I’m incredibly sorry,” Derick Ion Almena told NBC television. He said he normally slept in the building along with his three children, but they had checked into a hotel while the party raged on.
“I signed a lease. I got a building that was to city standards supposedly,” he added.
On Monday, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley told reporters her office had launched an investigation into the blaze to determine whether anyone was criminally liable.
“The range of charges could be murder all the way to involuntary manslaughter,” she said.
Survivors have spoken of the speed with which the fire spread through the warehouse, with questions arising as to whether the building was properly equipped with sprinklers or smoke detectors.
Officials believe the blaze started at the back end of the building and a faulty refrigerator could be the cause.
Oakland city officials acknowledged over the weekend that they had recently received a number of complaints about the warehouse, and that inspectors had been there last month but left when no one answered.
Oakland, a city of 420,000 that abuts San Francisco, is home to a large population of professionals driven from the nearby tech hub by sky-high rent.
