Daily Times

SAN FRANCISCO: Death toll from a fire at a California warehouse – crowded with dance party revellers – rose to 36 on Monday as fire officials announced they had to suspend work because the structure was at risk of collapsing.

Alameda County Deputy Sheriff Tya Modeste said that 11 of the 36 bodies recovered so far were positively identified. Previously, the toll stood at 33.

“We are no closer to finding a cause and believe that the number of fatalities will increase,” Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said.

The fire erupted on Friday night in a warehouse known as the Oakland Ghost Ship, as a rave – attended by around 50 to 100 people – was under way.

Fire quickly spread through the structure and trapped the partygoers, whose bodies were found scattered through the building’s mazelike interior. Reed said that fire-fighters reached an area in the back of the building where they believe the fire originated.

The area was cordoned off and work was suspended so that federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could gain access. But all recovery work was halted shortly after midnight after crews noticed that a parapet on building’s front exterior wall was leaning in.

“For us fire-fighters, working under a wobbly, a potentially collapsing exterior wall is extremely dangerous,” said Reed, “We will not put our fire-fighters in danger.” She said that work would resume after structural engineers examine the site.