Flames rise from the top of a warehouse, which caught fire during a dance party in Oakland, California, on Dec. 3.

Seung Lee / via Reuters</s>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Teenagers, the son of a local sheriff’s deputy and young artists who loved music are among the dozens of people who died when a fire broke out at an underground dance party in a warehouse that visitors called a death trap.

The victims of a party Friday night in Oakland included 17-year-olds and people from Europe and Asia, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Authorities have recovered 33 bodies, with more expected as crews continue to clear debris.

The city of Oakland identified some of the victims as Cash Askew, 22, David Clines, 35, Travis Hough, 35, and Donna Kellogg, 32, all of Oakland; Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, of Coronado, Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek, and Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward.

Officials said they had identified an eighth victim, but they were not releasing the name because the person was 17 years old.

Kelly also revealed the death of a deputy’s son at a news conference Sunday, but he did not release the name.

Kellogg’s father said he was not ready to comment further on his daughter’s death.

As names of the dead were being announced, friends and family of the missing anxiously awaited news.

A tearful Tammy Tasoff, 29, called Peter Wadsworth a best friend who was like an older brother to her.

The dental student said Wadsworth always looked out for her, doing the little things that would make her life easier. He would organize her messy files and give her advice and fix her computer if she needed help, Tasoff said. He bought video games because he knew she loved them, and he would often watch her play, she said.

“Usually he’d say let’s play video games and then he’d say no, I just want to watch you play. He’d make me food. He took really good care of me. He was like my big brother,” she said, sobbing.

Andy Kershaw, a DJ, has several friends missing from the party, including his wife, photographer Amanda Allen, and a fellow DJ, Johnny Igaz. He said he had not heard from authorities as of early Sunday.

Kershaw had never heard of the warehouse, and he was appalled by the crowded and unsafe conditions. “The whole point of a warehouse party is it’s supposed to be an empty warehouse,” he said.

Igaz was reportedly playing a set when the fire broke out. He listed as a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music in San Francisco. His Facebook page was littered with tearful posts from friends who called him a beautiful soul and a true friend.

Some friends and loved ones are holding out hope.

Yuri Kundin of San Francisco said he is awaiting word about his friends, Alex Ghassan and Hanna Henriikka Ruax. He hasn’t heard from the couple for the last few days and has plastered notes looking for them on social media. Henriikka Ruax is from Finland.

“We’re just hoping to hear some good news from a hospital,” he told reporters Sunday outside a sheriff’s building where friends and family had gathered to hear about their loved ones. “We don’t know what’s happening.”</s>OAKLAND, California — Recovery teams have found 24 bodies in the charred ruins of an Oakland, California, loft building after a fire broke out during a weekend dance party, and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said Sunday.

Sergeant Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, said two dozen bodies were located as authorities sifted through the debris-filled shell of the two-story building, which was used by an artists’ collective.

He said the death toll would likely rise in what fire officials called the deadliest blaze in the city’s history.

Only 20 percent of the building had been searched in the past 12 hours, said Melinda Drayton, battalion chief at the Oakland Fire Department.

Firefighters have gone through the building searching the debris, “bucket by bucket,” Drayton told a news conference on Sunday morning.

“It was quiet, it was heartbreaking,” she said. “This will be a long and arduous process.”

Authorities said on Saturday that nine bodies were initially discovered inside the shell of the structure and that about 25 people were believed to be missing. On Sunday, officials did not update the number of people who were not accounted for.

The fire erupted at about 11:30 p.m. local time Friday during the party featuring electronic dance music that dozens of people attended.

The recovery operation and investigation into how the blaze started had been delayed for hours until workers could enter safely on Saturday evening.

The roof had collapsed into the second floor and in some spots, the second story had fallen into the first.</s>OAKLAND, Calif. — Teenagers, the son of a local sheriff's deputy and young artists who loved music are among the dozens of people who died when a fire broke out at an underground dance party in a warehouse that visitors called a death trap.

The victims of a party Friday night in Oakland included 17-year-olds and people from Europe and Asia, Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Authorities have recovered 33 bodies, with more expected as crews continue to clear debris.

The city of Oakland identified some of the victims as Cash Askew, 22, David Clines, 35, Travis Hough, 35, and Donna Kellogg, 32, all of Oakland; Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, of Coronado, Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek, and Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward.

Officials said they had identified an eighth victim, but they were not releasing the name because the person was 17 years old.

Kelly also revealed the death of a deputy's son at a news conference Sunday, but he did not release the name.

The dental student said Wadsworth always looked out for her, doing the little things that would make her life easier. He would organize her messy files and give her advice and fix her computer if she needed help, Tasoff said. He bought video games because he knew she loved them, and he would often watch her play, she said.

"Usually he'd say let's play video games and then he'd say no, I just want to watch you play. He'd make me food. He took really good care of me. He was like my big brother," she said, sobbing.

Andy Kershaw, a DJ, has several friends missing from the party, including his wife, photographer Amanda Allen, and a fellow DJ, Johnny Igaz. He said he had not heard from authorities as of early Sunday.

Kershaw had never heard of the warehouse, and he was appalled by the crowded and unsafe conditions. "The whole point of a warehouse party is it's supposed to be an empty warehouse," he said.

Igaz was reportedly playing a set when the fire broke out. He listed as a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music in San Francisco. His Facebook page was littered with tearful posts from friends who called him a beautiful soul and a true friend.

Yuri Kundin of San Francisco said he is awaiting word about his friends, Alex Ghassan and Hanna Henriikka Ru . He hasn't heard from the couple for the last few days and has plastered notes looking for them on social media. Henriikka Ruax is from Finland.</s>var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([’embed’]);

The latest Sunday update on the number of victims and details about the investigation is here. Follow our ongoing coverage of the Ghost Ship live-work warehouse fire tragedy on this page, where the most recent stories are on top followed by earlier coverage.

OAKLAND — Doomed partygoers trapped on the second floor of a crudely converted warehouse screamed, “Help us! Help us!” as one of the deadliest structure fires in Oakland’s history ripped through a tinderbox of makeshift living spaces and a labyrinth cluttered with art late Friday night, killing at least two dozen people and possibly more.

On Sunday morning, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly confirmed that they have “24 deceased victims of this fire.”

“We anticipate the number of victims will rise,” Kelly said.

The blaze broke out at an electronic music party at a Fruitvale district live-work space occupied by an arts collective, and firefighters late Saturday were combing through the burned building in search of victims — a process they say may take 48 hours and require bulldozers and cadaver dogs.

Dozens of people waited for news about their loved ones late Saturday night at the coroner’s office.

“It’s like waiting for your name to be called, and if your name is called, it’s going to be the worst day of your life,” Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. “It’s very tense in there.”

Related Articles Oakland warehouse fire: How to help

Many anxiously wait for updates on loved ones in Oakland fire

Oakland warehouse fire: Inspectors launched probe last month into building but couldn’t get inside

How to find information about those missing

Facebook post from leader of Oakland warehouse artist collective sparks controversy

Photos and video: An outpouring of grief after Ghost Ship warehouse fire

Editorial: Oakland warehouse inferno was preventable As the horrific scene unfolded Friday night, people banged on windows when they couldn’t escape down the main path to safety: a steep, rickety staircase cobbled together with wooden pallets and plywood.

Survivors described a chaotic scene of people desperately trying to help their friends but overcome by fire and smoke.

“It was too hot, too much smoke, I had to get out of there,” said Bob Mule, a photographer and artist who lives in the building and who suffered minor burns. “I literally felt my skin peeling and my lungs being suffocated by smoke. I couldn’t get the fire extinguisher to work.”

When he escaped, he could see someone calling for help from the second-floor window, and tried to get a ladder, “but they jumped out the window.”

The building known as the “Ghost Ship” was zoned as a warehouse but had been the subject of a number of complaints about blight and illegal structures inside. On Saturday, city officials acknowledged that inspectors had knocked on the door of the warehouse two weeks ago but left when no one answered.

Outside the smoldering structure Saturday, Oakland police asked for descriptions of tattoos and piercings to help identify the nine bodies removed from the building Saturday as well as another two dozen or more who remain missing, including college students, artists and musicians attending a dance party upstairs. A 10th body had been found as of early Sunday, according to media reports.

It took about four hours to bring the blaze under control; at one point, the roof collapsed. The building had no sprinklers, Oakland fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said, and crews did not hear any smoke detectors going off when they arrived.

“We still have to do a more thorough search of the building, and we don’t know the potential number of other victims,” Reed said. No firefighters were reported injured while battling the blaze.

Kelly said emergency responders were prepared Saturday night for a “mass casualty event” that could involve “several dozen fatalities.” He also said that “several dozen” people who were initially reported missing have since been located and are safe.

The plan is to “disassemble the building piece by piece and place the debris into bins,” Kelly said. Heavy equipment could be seen and heard working on the building into Saturday evening.

Authorities were bringing in bulldozers, excavators, cadaver dogs and remote control equipment to find bodies buried beneath a collapsed second floor and roof and hidden within a clutter of pianos, camping trailers, artwork and old furniture.

“It’s very bad wreckage, twisted debris. It’s like a maze: wires, beams, wood,” Kelly said. “It’s all fallen on top of each other. There are places and crevices we can’t get in to.”

Like 9/11 in New York, few victims of the fire were taken to the hospital with injuries, he said. “People either made it out or didn’t make it out.”

Families of the missing gathered at an Alameda County Sheriff’s Department building on Saturday waiting for word. Dan Vega, whose brother Alex is missing, says the wait is unbearable.

“I have my work boots, I have gloves,” Vega said. “I just want to find him.”

Chris, a local musician who asked to use only his first name, said he was in the bathroom when the fire broke out. He walked out into a room filled with thick smoke. The lights had gone out and it was pitch black inside the warehouse space, where only a few moments earlier a group of 40 to 50 people were listening to a DJ play music and waiting for the show to start.

Immediately, people were screaming and trying to direct others to safety. With no lights, and smoke filling the warehouse, it made it difficult for people to find their footing on the somewhat irregularly shaped staircase, which Chris said appeared to have been built in three sections.

“We did that for as long as we could, but when you’re in a burning building, you’re being surrounded by a completely hostile environment,” he said. “It was kind of a free for all.”

Chris said he ran to his car to grab a flashlight and ran back into the building, crawling on his hands and knees, but he couldn’t get to the staircase or help move people to safety. The smoke, which he said hit him “like getting slapped in the face,” made it impossible for him to see or to breathe.

Firefighters started arriving as the flames grew larger and started erupting out of the side of the building.

“I felt so helpless,” he said as he watched the firefighters douse the flames.

The warehouse is one of numerous buildings in Oakland that have been illegally converted into artists collectives that have not been properly inspected, according to City Councilman Noel Gallo. Still, young hipsters looking for cheap, creative communities seek them out to survive in a city where rents are skyrocketing to accommodate an influx of highly paid tech workers.

The “Ghost Ship” was under investigation by city building inspectors just weeks ago amid reports of blight and illegal structures inside. When they knocked on the door to get inside the building Nov. 17, however, no one answered, so they left, according to city officials.

The building is owned by Chor N. Ng, of Oakland, but former residents say Derick Alemany and his wife, Micah, were raising three young children there, although they weren’t in the building when the fire broke out. The couple were the creative force behind the labyrinthine menagerie and collected monthly rent from other artists of between $300 and $600. They held dance parties with live electronic music and charged at the door to help raise money for rent.

In a Facebook post Saturday that was excoriated by readers, Alemany wrote, “Everything I worked so hard for is gone. Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel safe and sound. … it’s as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope … to be standing now in poverty of self-worth.”

Alemany had advertised on Facebook and Craigslist looking for renters seeking “immediate change and loving revolution,” who enjoyed “poetics, dramatics, film, tantric kitten juggling and nude traffic directing.” He described it as 10,000 square feet of vintage redwood and antique steel “styled beyond compare.”

His 1951 purple Plymouth remained parked Saturday in front of the building that burned so hot, the “Ghost Ship” letters painted across the front had all but melted away.

“They are ex-Burning Man people and had their kids in the place — three kids running around with no shoes,” said DeL Lee, 34, who lived there for three months two years ago. “It was nuts.”

He described the place as a filthy firetrap, with frequent power outages, overloaded outlets, sparks and the smell of burning wire. A camping stove with butane tanks served as the kitchen, and a hole had been chiseled through the concrete wall to access the bathroom at the adjoining automotive repair shop next door.

The staircase, which had two switchbacks to get to the second floor, was built of pallets, plywood and footholds — like a ship’s gangplank — and was like “climbing a fort” to get up and down, say people who had visited the building.

Pianos and old couches doubled as room dividers. Pallets covered with shingles and elaborate trim formed sculptural walls. Often, Lee said, the place was filled with the sounds of sawing and hammering as Alemany continued to build.

“They’d be up all night, til 10 a.m., playing on the piano, banging on the floor, singing — it was crazy,” Lee said.

On Saturday, a candlelight vigil was held at Chapel of the Chimes. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office also became a painful gathering place of sobs and embraces.

Kimberly Gregory, of South San Francisco, said she was watching the news about the fire, thinking how sad it was, when she got a call from her daughter’s friend asking if Michela, a student at San Francisco State, was safe.

“What do you mean?” Gregory asked. She and her husband raced to Oakland, where they were met by Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Joel Shanahan, the electronic musician who performed as Golden Donna at the Ghost Ship when the fire broke out, confirmed on Facebook that he was safe. “But like many people he is heartbroken and has several friends among the missing,” a post on his Facebook page read.

But Micah Danemayor, who was performing at the warehouse Friday, remains among the missing, along with his girlfriend. Karen Tate, who is close to the Danemayor family, fears they are both dead.

“His passion was the performances. He made his life work so he could do that,” Tate said. “They moved in together, and the next day they perished together. It’s so tragic.”

Staff writers Harry Harris, Sam Richards, Malaika Fraley and Katrina Cameron contributed to this story.</s>Oakland, California (CNN) After a day's worth of investigations, Oakland authorities were continuing to search for answers on Sunday regarding the fast-spreading deadly fire that engulfed a warehouse during an electronic dance concert.

They want to know about the rickety stairway. They want to know about the lack of permits. They also want to know: Could this tragedy have been avoided?

At least nine people died in the fire as scores of others escaped Friday night. But the fates of more than two dozen people were still unknown Saturday evening one day after the blaze that gutted the two-story warehouse.

Friends and family used every available tool -- phones and social media among them -- in the frantic effort to find out whether their loved ones were alive. People like 27-year-old painter Bob Mulé, who lost his friend to the fire, were left to grapple with the nightmare of that fiery night.

"I felt my skin melting," Mulé said. "I tried to save my friend but I had to leave him."

The Oakland Fire Department fears the fire may have burned up to 40 people in a structure that housed artists' studios and stored so many things that the housing department had notified property owners of violations for trash and debris.

'You could feel the heat of the flames'

"You could feel the heat of the flames," he told CNN. "Most of us were crying or unable to react. It was so hot and so terrible knowing that so many of us were still inside."

Freelance journalist Sam Lefebvre said many people were just getting there as the fire started since the dance party was supposed to go very late.

Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Graves said 40 out of an estimated 100 people may have died. However, he cautioned that some people may have ended up at hospitals or made it out alive with friends. Later on, officials said the death toll might be in the dozens.

Initially, authorities recovered nine bodies and rushed their fingerprints to a lab in an attempt to identify the victims, an Alameda County Sheriff's Office coroner spokesman said.

Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said emergency responders found most victims on the second floor given that the pallet stairway had become inacessible.

Evanofski was one of the lucky ones in a building filled with artists. His friend, who did nails, wasn't as fortunate, he said.

"She is one of the most magical people I've ever met," he said..

Calling the fire an "immense tragedy," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf pledged to get a "full accounting" that could be shared with the public as quickly as possible.

There was another question on authorities' minds: How did the first start in the first place?

The building is a "sort of live/work art space with a lot of old decorations and furniture," Lefebvre, the freelance journalist, told CNN. Photos posted on a blog showed elaborate wooden structures inside the building before the fire. Some of them include beds and living room furniture.

Reed described the interior as one that had partitions that divided space among several artists. She said she has heard reports that some people may have been living there but it remained unclear how many people lived there.

"Inside is just a wide assortment of just ... everything. Furniture, mannequins, statues. Just a lot of stuff inside," she told CNN.

Darin Ranelletti, Oakland's interim director of planning and building, told reporters Saturday the city had only approved permits for the building to be used as a warehouse -- not for residences.

City officials also had not signed off on a special permit for the event, Ranelletti said.

Last month the warehouse property owners had received notification of code violations for hazardous trash and debris, property records show. Officials had not yet completed an investigation into a November complaint for an illegal interior building structure..

A city inspector tried to enter the warehouse November 17 but was unable to make a visual inspection inside, Ranelletti said.

In addition, firefighters found no evidence of sprinklers in the warehouse.

CNN has reached out to the property owners for comment. Johnna Watson, Oakland police spokeswoman, said the building is not deemed a crime scene but it is still early in the investigation.

'It's too unsafe' for emergency responders

To find loved ones, people used the event's Facebook page Saturday to post names of potential show attendees. For those who survived, they also shared their names to show they were safe.

Twenty-five people are unaccounted for, as reported by people who either escaped the fire or believe they knew someone who was there, Reed said.

Terry Lightfoot, a representative of Oakland's Highland Hospital, told CNN the hospital received two patients and one of them has been discharged. Lightfoot said he did not know the condition of the patient who remained hospitalized.

Firefighters have not been able to search the entire building, where the roof collapsed onto the second floor and parts continued down onto the ground level.

Crews, possibly with heavy equipment, first have to shore up walls and make sure the building is safe.

'I had to let him go'

For Bob Mulé, the warehouse wasn't just the site of a large dance party, it was both his home and his community.

Mulé told CNN more than 20 people living in the warehouse, which he described as a "collective artists' community," paid rent and were all involved in the creation of the space.

On Friday night, Mule stopped upstairs to listen to some music he described as a "very tame setting." Afterward, he headed downstairs to work on a painting. From his studio, he smelled smoke, which led him to investigate the source.

After seeing the flames, Mulé ran to find a fire extinguisher. He found one, and tried to pull the pin, but struggled mightily. After a little while, he turned back to save his camera and laptop.

At that point, Mulé spotted a fellow artist who called out for help. Mulé suspected that heavy-set artist had broken his ankle after falling from the second floor. He tried to save him.

"I was pulling him out," said Mulé, who sustained burns from the fire, later wrapped in bandages. "The flames were too much. There was too much smoke and ... I had to let him go."

More than 40 people gathered Saturday at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland for a vigil. Organizers asked attendees to light a candle at the end of the service, saying flames caused pain and destruction "but tonight we light the flame for good and for peace."

Now, as loved ones await answers in the coming days, Mulé must wrestle with the reality of losing a friend he couldn't save and the likelihood that the official deatTheh toll may climb.</s>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Teenagers, the son of a local sheriff’s deputy and young artists who loved music are among the dozens of people who died when a fire broke out at an underground dance party in a warehouse that visitors called a death trap.

The victims of a party Friday night in Oakland included 17-year-olds and people from Europe and Asia, Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Authorities have recovered 33 bodies, with more expected as crews continue to clear debris.

The city of Oakland identified some of the victims as Cash Askew, 22, David Clines, 35, Travis Hough, 35, and Donna Kellogg, 32, all of Oakland; Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, of Coronado, Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek, and Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward.

Officials said they had identified an eighth victim, but they were not releasing the name because the person was 17 years old.

Kelly also revealed the death of a deputy’s son at a news conference Sunday, but he did not release the name.

Kellogg’s father said he was not ready to comment further on his daughter’s death.

As names of the dead were being announced, friends and family of the missing anxiously awaited news.

A tearful Tammy Tasoff, 29, called Peter Wadsworth a best friend who was like an older brother to her.

The dental student said Wadsworth always looked out for her, doing the little things that would make her life easier. He would organize her messy files and give her advice and fix her computer if she needed help, Tasoff said. He bought video games because he knew she loved them, and he would often watch her play, she said.

“Usually he’d say let’s play video games and then he’d say no, I just want to watch you play. He’d make me food. He took really good care of me. He was like my big brother,” she said, sobbing.

Andy Kershaw, a DJ, has several friends missing from the party, including his wife, photographer Amanda Allen, and a fellow DJ, Johnny Igaz. He said he had not heard from authorities as of early Sunday.

Kershaw had never heard of the warehouse, and he was appalled by the crowded and unsafe conditions. “The whole point of a warehouse party is it’s supposed to be an empty warehouse,” he said.

Igaz was reportedly playing a set when the fire broke out. He listed as a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music in San Francisco. His Facebook page was littered with tearful posts from friends who called him a beautiful soul and a true friend.

Some friends and loved ones are holding out hope.

Yuri Kundin of San Francisco said he is awaiting word about his friends, Alex Ghassan and Hanna Henriikka Ruax. He hasn’t heard from the couple for the last few days and has plastered notes looking for them on social media. Henriikka Ruax is from Finland.

“We’re just hoping to hear some good news from a hospital,” he told reporters Sunday outside a sheriff’s building where friends and family had gathered to hear about their loved ones. “We don’t know what’s happening.”</s>OAKLAND, Calif. – The Latest on a deadly fire in a converted warehouse in Oakland, California (all times local):

Officials in Oakland, California, say the death toll has risen to 24 from a fire that ripped through a converted warehouse.

Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly announced the new figure early Sunday. He says officials anticipate that the number will rise.

Oakland Battalion Fire Chief Melinda Drayton says fire crews worked through the night to clear debris from the gutted building.

The converted warehouse was known as the "Ghost Ship." Those who lived there or visited often say it was an artist workspace and illegal home for a rotating group of a dozen or more residents.

Firefighters struggled to get to bodies in the charred rubble Saturday.

The fire started about 11:30 p.m. Friday during an electronic dance music party. Officials believed 50 to 100 people may have been in attendance.</s>OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - A fire that erupted during a dance party at a warehouse used by an artists' collective in Oakland, California, killed at least nine and left about two dozen people missing, raising fears that more bodies would be found inside, authorities said on Saturday.

City and Alameda County officials said they expected the death toll to climb once the burned-out ruins of the two-story building were shored up and recovery teams were able to safely enter the structure.

The blaze started at about 11:30 p.m. on Friday in the city's Fruitvale district, a mostly Latino area that is also home to many artists living and working in converted lofts.

The cause of the blaze and exact number of casualties remained undetermined, said Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed, who called it the worst single-structure fire she had seen in her career.

Still, nine fatalities had been confirmed, and authorities were working to account for "a couple of dozen" other people and were "expecting the worst," Sergeant Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the county sheriff, told an afternoon news conference.

The remains of only one of the nine confirmed dead had been recovered as of Saturday because the warehouse was still too unstable to enter, said Deputy Fire Chief Mark Hoffmann.

He said about a dozen people survived the blaze, including one individual who went to a local hospital for treatment. The party was taking place on the second floor of the building, which had just two exits, at the time the blaze began, officials said.

The warehouse roof collapsed onto the second floor of the building during the fire, according to authorities, and portions of the second floor caved in on the first story.

Authorities said they did not suspect arson, but investigators want to find out if the building, which was partitioned into artists' studios, had a history of building code violations.

The city had received complaints about unpermitted construction at the building and opened an investigation, but an inspector failed to gain access to the structure on Nov. 7, and the inquiry remained open, said the city's buildings and planning chief, Darin Ranelletti.

He said the city was aware of reports that people were living there, but no permits had been issued for habitation. It was unclear, he said, whether special permits would be needed for the artists who had set up shop inside.

Many of the victims were young people in their 20s or 30s, authorities said.

"It's just so hard to accept that some really wonderful people's lives got cut short," said Jenny Yang, 34, an artist and activist who was waiting for news of missing friends at Eli's, an Oakland bar that opened early as a gathering spot.

Video footage posted on social media showed flames shooting from the structure, which was adorned with elaborate graffiti and colorful murals, as fire vehicles pumped plumes of water and heavy smoke engulfed the neighborhood.

Earlier, first responders were able to identify the nine fatalities visually as they entered the building, according to Kelly. He said local hospitals were being inundated with calls but had not treated many patients.

Authorities have said they did not know how many people were at the party or how many lived on the premises.

A Facebook event page showed 176 people planned to attend the party, which featured electronic music performances.

Golden Donna, Cherushii and Nackt were among the acts scheduled to perform as part of the Los Angeles-based 100% Silk label's West Coast tour, Variety reported.

Parents and others shared contact information on the page and asked anyone with information about the missing to call. "ANY information please!" wrote a woman looking for her son.

At a sheriff’s station not far from the fire, about a dozen people were waiting on Saturday for updates from authorities.

“I don’t have high hopes,” said a woman who had four friends among the missing, declining to give her name. “We’ve just spent the night calling hospitals and listening to police scanners.”

The warehouse contained makeshift artist studios carved out with curtains and other partitions, the fire chief said. The interior was cluttered with "a flea market of items," she said. There was no evidence of any smoke detectors in the building.

The structure had only a single point of entry or exit from the second floor, where most of the dead were found, the chief said. A makeshift staircase appeared to be constructed from pallets. "It's the worst case scenario we feared because it's an older warehouse," Doug, a man who only gave his first name, said as he waited for news of people who may have been inside.
Recovery efforts continue in the US city of Oakland, California, after a fire at a music party in a converted warehouse kills at least nine people with dozens missing.