Oakland warehouse was a cluttered death trap filled with pianos, RVs but no fire sprinklers former r

Los Angeles Times ^ | December 3, 2016 | By Liam Dillon, Ben Poston, David Zahniser and Laura J. NelsonLiam Dillon, Ben Poston, & others

[libstripper]

Full title:

Oakland warehouse was a cluttered ‘death trap’ filled with pianos, RVs, but no fire sprinklers, former residents say

Excerpt:

The Oakland warehouse where at least nine people were killed at a late-night concert was a deadly blaze waiting to happen.

People who previously lived there recalled a building that lacked fire sprinklers and had a staircase partly made of wooden pallets. Partygoers recalled a rabbit warren of rooms crammed with belongings — pianos, organs, antique furniture, doors and half-finished sculptures.

[libstripper]

This was an atrocity caused by a bunch of hippies illegally occupying totally unsuitable structure, converting it to multiple residences and artists' pads, failing to comply with the most rudimentary fire safety precautions, and a liberal city government that utterly failed to fulfill its legal obligations to enforce the law.

Anyone who wants to see what the interior looked like before the fire should go here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3997712/I-spent-lot-time-planning-escape-routes-sh-People-warehouse-converted-artists-collective-gutted-Oakland-party-blaze-knew-deathtrap-waiting-happen-building-just-cited-month.html#ixzz4RqbeKEu8

[cloudmountain]

This was an atrocity caused by a bunch of hippies illegally occupying totally unsuitable structure, converting it to multiple residences and artists' pads, failing to comply with the most rudimentary fire safety precautions, and a liberal city government that utterly failed to fulfill its legal obligations to enforce the law.

Oakland's property values have gone up. Those folks are going to have to move elsewhere...maybe to Cuba. I've give them one-way, non-refundable tickets.

[P.O.E.]

Prayers up for family and friends.

[Jim Noble]

Nothing good happens after midnight.

[arl295]

Pics of the interior are here

http://www.oaklandghostship.com/

it was a cluttered mess, a tinder box waiting for a spark

looks like extension cords were used as electrical wiring as well

[bigtoona]

Cities and towns all over the country are always giving money and encouraging these ‘artist’ communities to come into town and setup shop. They give them old warehouse buildings and all kinds of breaks because they think that it brings culture.

In reality its just a bunch of hippy vagrants that need a place to squat for almost no money so they can smoke dope and create junk “art” out of twisted metal and garbage.

[Vermont Lt]

There are a bunch of lawyers who’s prayers were answered today.

[null and void]

Why does the Daily Mail, half a planet away, have better and quicker coverage than The LA Times?

[kearnyirish2]

These honkies were probably the reason property values were going up; not that they contribute anything, but they were “whitening” the city...

[grania]

Oakland's property values have gone up

That's the bottom line. In trendy cities, nobody wants to deal with houaing for people who aren't at the two extremes....upper-echelon and low income rent subsidies. So what do they do? Look the other way with these horrendous working, recreational, and living conditions.

The city has to be held accountable for any violations they knew about, but did nothing.

[FreedomPoster]

There is no one with any assets worth going after involved, is my take.

[GreenLanternCorps]

Remind me of the Cocoanut Grove and Beverly Hills Supper Club fires.

In both cases the building were expanded and remodeled without regard to safety or codes. Fire codes were inadequate at best.

The body count in this fire was much lower, however...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills_Supper_Club_fire

[Hardastarboard]

It looks like it was a really cool pad, but there is a thousand bucks worth of kindling in there. If they didn’t have sprinklers, something like that was bound to happen.

[arl295]

Or haunted castle as well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Castle_(Six_Flags_Great_Adventure)

[GreenHornet]

Those kids did not deserve to die such a horrible death. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I would have also thought it would be really cool to attend a bash like that. I wouldn’t have been thinking about smoke detectors, sprinklers, emergency exits, etc. Prayers for the families of the victims.

[BenLurkin]

Awesome looking place. Was probably great for hanging out.......just not safe.

[BenLurkin]

Huh?

[HarleyLady27]

I have read how bad this building was, and with all the fire and other codes it seems funny, like city payoffs, for this building to even be open...but has anyone other than me wondering if this hasn’t got the smell of the Orlando fire???

[libstripper]

They posted this on their own website. It's a public document that shows the whole place was a fire trap that had been in the making for many months or years. That means any Oakland official could have just gone to their website and followed up with a walk around their premises to develop enough evidence to show there was probable cause to believe here were multiple, serious fire, electrical, and sanitation violations that should have enable the authorities to get one or more search warrants to determine was going on in the building. Clearly, they could have gotten the warrants and done the investigation long before the minimal action they took a month ago. Once again there is strong proof that one of the causes of the atrocity was gross official malfeasance.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I would have also thought it would be really cool to attend a bash like that****

NOT this old boy! For some reason I don’t like crowded dark spaces! One reason why I never got into the bar hopping scene is when I found ONE small door into a joint, no back door to be seen, then I found ONE small back door. A real death trap.