OAKLAND, Calif. — At least nine people were dead and emergency responders were searching for at least a dozen more in the ashes of a fire that broke out at a converted warehouse hosting an electronic music party on Friday night, the authorities here said.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said the office was “prepared for several dozen victims.”
The emergency call for the fire in the Fruitvale neighborhood came in around 11:30 p.m., officials said. Responders arrived to find the small warehouse filled with heavy smoke and flames. The bodies were found on the second floor of the building, Chief Teresa Deloach Reed of the Oakland Fire Department said on Saturday.
“In my career of 30 years, I haven’t experienced something of this magnitude,” Chief Deloach Reed said.
The building had been converted into an artist’s studio and was cluttered with furniture, statues and mannequins, she said. A makeshift staircase connected the first and second floors.