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Firefighters assess the scene where a deadly fire tore through a late-night electronic music party in a warehouse in Oakland, California. AP Photo/Josh Edelson

33 confirmed dead after California warehouse fire

Authorities say they have no idea how many more bodies they may find.

THE DEATH TOLL from a fire at a California warehouse where a rave party was taking place rose to 33 last night, with the authorities saying they had no idea how many more bodies they may find.

“When we started this investigation, if you would have told us we would have 33 victims, we wouldn’t have believed you,” Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department told reporters, adding that crews had searched less than half of the gutted building.

“I don’t know how many people are left in there. We have no idea how many people were in that building that night,” he said.

We’re expecting the worst and hoping for the best in regards to how many more victims we find.

The fire in Oakland, near San Francisco, broke out about 11:30 pm Friday (0730 GMT Saturday) at the cluttered warehouse where artists and students worked and lived, even though the structure wasn’t licensed for such use.

The electronic dance music party, with between 50 and 100 guests, also took place without a permit.

Although the cause of the fast-moving blaze remains under investigation, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said the district attorney had opened a criminal investigation as a precaution to preserve options as the case unfolds.

“You have to understand that the scope of this tragedy is tremendous,” she said.

We have many, many witnesses to interview. We are in the process of doing that.

Victims as young as 17

Eight victims have been identified based on fingerprints so far, ranging in age from 17 to 35.

Some were from Europe and Asia, and the Oakland authorities are working with the State Department to contact foreign governments, Kelly said, declining to reveal which countries.

APTOPIX Warehouse Party Fire AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez AP Photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez / Marcio Jose Sanchez

Bodies were found scattered throughout the warehouse, known locally as Oakland Ghost Ship.

“We’re finding people throughout the entire square footage of that structure,” Kelly said.

It’s so random. We’re finding victims where we least expect it.

The authorities yesterday asked relatives of the missing to “eliminate future delays” in identifying victims by preserving such items as hairbrushes and toothbrushes for DNA samples.

“We will ask for them as we need them,” said Captain Melanie Ditzenberger of the sheriff’s department coroner’s bureau.

download (68) Josh Edelson Josh Edelson

Bucket by bucket

Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed has said the interior of the warehouse was maze-like, “filled end-to-end with furniture, whatnot, collections”.

“There wasn’t a real entry or exit path,” she said.

Images published online show artwork, pianos and wooden objects throughout the building, which helps explain why the blaze raced through the structure despite firefighters’ arrival within three minutes.

Firefighters also said the building appeared to have had no sprinklers or smoke detectors.

Officials said the roof collapsed onto the second floor, which was connected to the ground floor only by a makeshift system of wooden pallets.

A dozen bodies were found in an area in the middle of the building, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton said.

Warehouse Party Fire Marcio Jose Sanchez Marcio Jose Sanchez

Firefighters had taken every precaution to treat human remains with respect as they cleared debris bucket by bucket, she added.

The fire was the deadliest incident in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California, which killed 63 people.

The deadliest nightclub fire in the United States in recent decades occurred in 2003, when pyrotechnic effects by the rock band Great White set off an inferno at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing 100 people.

Oakland, a city of 420,000, was once deemed largely unsafe but is now home to a more affluent population attracted by affordable rents and proximity to San Francisco.

© AFP 2016

Read: Death toll from California dance party fire rises to 24

Read: Death toll from California party fire could reach 40

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    Mute Dub_Right
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:24 AM

    The Gardai haven’t got a boat? Potential security risk right there for anyone who’d steal a boat and drive it up the Liffey with malicious intent…

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    Mute Boeing Lover
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:41 AM

    @Dub_Right: The sub-aqua unit have 15 vessels placed all around the country.

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    Mute Ger Healy
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:45 AM

    @Dub_Right: Dub, you are never right…..anything to just have a moan about

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    Mute Jon Mackey
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:45 AM

    @Dub_Right: last time that happened the Brits blew holes in the GPO

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    Mute Gerry Ivie
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:46 AM

    @Boeing Lover: The Garda Water Unit. It hasn’t been called The Sub Aqua Squad in over 20 years. Just sayin’…….

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    Mute Boeing Lover
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    Jun 1st 2017, 9:53 AM

    @Gerry Ivie: sorry Gerry, old habits n’ all that

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    Mute Crocodylus Pontifex
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:00 AM

    @Boeing Lover: Ok I get the 787 in the small picture but why is your large picture an Airbus A330?

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    Mute Boeing Lover
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:19 AM

    @Crocodylus Pontifex: i’m a bit of an amateur photographer, that picture of the A330 there is one that Aer Lingus contacted me about to use on their website, it was my first published one so I left it there as a bit of a tribute to it.

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    Mute Crocodylus Pontifex
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:41 AM

    @Boeing Lover: It’s a fantastic shot

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    Mute Boeing Lover
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    Jun 1st 2017, 3:03 PM

    @Crocodylus Pontifex: thank you

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    Mute Slippy ❤️
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:00 AM

    Pleasure boat driven eroticly …

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    Mute Ladude
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    Jun 1st 2017, 11:05 AM

    @Slippy ❤️:

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    Mute Scundered
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    Jun 1st 2017, 11:18 AM

    can we not just have a law where anyone stealing a boat or car etc can be shot on sight? I think most would be ok with this plus they wouldn’t do it again.

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    Mute John Brendan Mullen
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    Jun 1st 2017, 11:06 AM

    Whoever was behind the controls should have to pay for the rescue operation. That’s the only way to stop this carry on. Putting their passengers other boat users and rescue teams in harms way should be punishable by fine and the cost of the rescue operation

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    Mute Carl Ingalls
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:05 AM

    Any port in a storm eh?

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    Mute ⚡ Seánie ⚡
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:16 AM

    They must have heard about the ice berg

    Iceberg as big as Galway on the brink of breaking away into ocean
    http://jrnl.ie/3420156

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    Mute David Stapleton
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    Jun 1st 2017, 1:22 PM

    Bloody joy-boaters…

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    Mute Padraig
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:35 AM

    Dublin needs to get an Irish made Barracuda.
    https://youtu.be/cMZlKStA4_0

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    Mute Dave Hogan
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:44 AM

    Welcome to Ireland tiger.

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    Mute Thaddus T Sawballs
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    Jun 1st 2017, 1:55 PM

    What other way do you drive a pleasure boat?

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    Mute mike scott
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    Jun 1st 2017, 10:08 AM

    Danger

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