WASHINGTON — The Oakland, California, warehouse fire where at least 24 people died and many others are missing can happen anywhere and will probably happen again, one frustrated fire official said.
But to prevent such tragedies, fire officials need the public’s help in finding buildings that are being used illegally in such a fashion, he said.
Marc Bashoor, Prince George’s County fire chief, said these types of warehouse fires will continue to happen as long as buildings are illegally retrofitted and used for large social gatherings.
“The fire was one issue, but people trying to get out was another,” he said.
Such fires are usually situations where there is massive overcrowding, he said. A dance party apparently was taking place at the time of the devastating blaze.
“When it’s overcrowded, it’s so much more difficult to get out,” he said.
These types of fires, Bashoor said, have haunted firefighters for 200 years.
“We have such history in the United States — and frankly worldwide — of those types of facilities being retrofitted without code and without permits,” he said.
Bashoor cited the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston, which killed 492 and injured hundreds more. There were fire codes at the time, including capacity limits.
“That fire led to reform of many standards and codes we use today,” he said, adding that even back then, fire officials struggled with capacity code enforcement.
The tragedy in Oakland also called to mind the 2003 Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, which killed 100 and injured more than 200.
Because of new fire codes and the formation of the National Fire Protection Association and other fire protection organizations, these types of fires have been less frequent.
“But our history in the United States just shows that this will repeat,” said Bashoor, who mentioned on Twitter that outrage should be channeled into more preventive action.
“Don’t care if there’s outrage. Care if this makes difference. Not ‘just another Supper Club’ fire remembered yearly,” he tweeted.
If a place could be overcrowded or does not look right, he said, just contact your local fire department or call 311.
“If it’s necessary, we’ll shut the place down,” he said.
“The biggest thing we’ve told people is we can’t do anything about enforcement and shutting these places down if we don’t know about them,” he said.
