Published
Mon, May 8, 2017, 15:53
- They say firefighters toured the space after extinguishing a couch fire, then returned for a party the next day.
Firefighters visited the Ghost Ship space in Oakland multiple times without reporting fire safety issues, witnesses told The Mercury News.
The report says they toured the space two years ago, and attended a party in the same second-story space where partygoers were trapped during the December 2016 fire. According to witnesses and documents, the firefighters—whose names are not yet known—originally visited in September of 2014, to extinguish a couch fire outside of the warehouse. They then toured the space, allegedly telling one resident that they'd be fine as long as there were marked fire exits.
The next day they returned, twice, for a private party with live bands upstairs and chefs roasting a pig outside, multiple attendees said. Those firefighters never reported any concerns or called for an inspection of the space.
This revelation indicates that city employees knew about fire safety concerns at the space, but did nothing to report them. Firefighters who helped extinguish the blaze also said they were aware of such issues, and allegedly discussed it while driving to the site of the fire. "I am saddened to hear this," acting fire chief Mark Hoffman told The Mercury News when presented with the paper's findings. "I can't defend their actions." He said that, if true, those firefighters were obligated to initiate an immediate investigation—and they were "ignoring tell-tale signs of danger." Such negligence is grounds for being fired or demoted, Hoffman explained, and he'll be opening an immediate investigation.