Investigators rule out refrigerator as cause of Oakland fire

Friday, December 9, 2016
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- One week ago today, 36 people died in the tragedy at the [url HREF="abc7news.com/tag/ghost-ship-fire" TARGET="" REL=""]Ghost Ship warehouse[/url]. Tonight, the ATF is ruling out one big cause of that fire.[br /][br /]The ATF has ruled out a refrigerator as a point of origin for the fire, but are still looking into other possible causes.[br /] [br /]"Outlets, power cords, anything that would be a source of ignition that would be in that area," said Jill Snyder, ATF special agent in charge.[br /][br /]You can peer inside the garage door sized opening of the blackened Ghost Ship warehouse and see the skeleton of a flight of stairs filled with a tangle of charred debris. At the base, there is a massive elaborate wood carving, almost like a masthead. There are damaged propane tanks and fire extinguishers and a cart filled with burned belongings.[br /][br /][b]RELATED: [url HREF="http://abc7news.com/news/36-victims-of-oakland-warehouse-fire-identified/1639657" TARGET="" REL=""]36 victims of Oakland warehouse fire identified[/url][/b][br /][br /]A father traveled to the site from Utah to take pictures of where his 34-year-old son Edmond LaPine died.[br /][br /]"What's tougher is I'll never see him again. I just wanted to see where he died and where he thought he was going to go and have a good time," said LaPine.[br /][br /][b]TIMELINE: [url HREF="http://abc7news.com/news/timeline-complaints-against-ghost-ship-warehouse-since-2014/1640996/" TARGET="" REL=""]Complaints against Ghost Ship warehouse since 2014[/url][/b][br /]
[br /][media ID="1641042" /][br /][br /]"Gone by every day on bus and BART and it's really hard to see people like this," said Shamane King, Fruitvale resident.[br /][br /]A group of disabled Fruitvale neighbors made a massive board expressing condolences to family and friends who come to see where their loved ones perished.[br /][br /]Meanwhile investigators with the Alameda County DAs office talked to neighbors to get access to surveillance cameras on a house across the street from the warehouse.[br /][br /]ATF's forensic mapping is setting up cameras to produce a detailed diagram of Ghost Ship, a process that's expected to take 2-3 days[br /][br /][b][url HREF="http://abc7news.com/tag/ghost-ship-fire/" TARGET="" REL=""]Click here[/url][/b] for all ABC7 News stories, videos, and photos from the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.[/b]
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