Oakland fire captain had warned of dangerous conditions at building that burned this week, killing 4

An Oakland fire captain recommended in January that a building that burned this week, killing four people, should be shut down immediately for safety reasons, but department officials opted to take less drastic measures, records released Friday show.

In an email dated Jan. 8 and titled “Fire Safety Hazard,” Capt. Richard Chew reported that a fire alarm had been pulled and not reset and that there were open piles of garbage on the third floor of the building and a padlock on the door to the fire escape.

He recommended officials consider shutting the building down immediately “due to the danger to life safety.”

The records show Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter ordered Chew to cut the padlock and other officials to contact the building’s owner to fix the alarm and remove trash.

Acting Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini, head of the fire prevention bureau, responded that it was appropriate to give the owner 30 days to make repairs.

Oakland became the site of the deadliest structure fire in the U.S. in a decade when 36 people died in a December blaze at a warehouse known as the Ghost Ship that had been illegally converted into live and work spaces for artists. Officials then vowed to crack down on substandard housing and conduct more inspections.

A Jan. 9 email by another fire captain regarding the building that burned Monday reported there were no fire extinguishers in the building. Fire Lt. Steve Padgett reported in a Feb. 25 email that the address is a “known fire hazard.”

“There are no fire extinguishers. Storage in the hallways. Faulty or unmaintained smoke detectors,” he wrote. “This building is dangerous! Please let Station 15 know what we can do to get this place shut down, updated and repaired.”

The city disclosed the emails as Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Friday she was ordering an overhaul of fire safety inspection services.

Schaaf has said that streamlined communications she put in place after the Ghost Ship fire to keep problem buildings from slipping through the cracks seemed to be working. But, she said, the city didn’t have the authority to immediately shut down the property that burned this week — which would have required a declaration that a building was unsafe for human habitation.

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