The fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland resulted in the deaths of 36 people. Illegal parties are thrown in shoddy warehouses like Ghost Ship all the time, but the city looked the other way and did nothing to shut them down.
You'd think after the Ghost Ship fire Oakland would've learned their lesson. They haven't.
Yesterday the city's police chief ordered officers to immediately begin reporting on unpermitted parties and illegally converted warehouses to their superiors. But four hours later, city officials basically said, "Psych!" and rescinded the order.
Here were the original instructions from Assistant Police Chief David Downing sent out at 2:00 pm:
"Effective immediately, any member of OPD (sworn and civilian) who encounters an unlawful or unpermitted gathering (such as a rave, party, cabaret) or an unpermitted living space/structure within a warehouse, shall send an email message before end of shift to notify their supervisor and area captain.”
Then at 6:00 pm, City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, who oversees the police department, sent out a brief statement saying the order was sent out prematurely.
So now the police have no policy on how to deal with potential hazards they come across on calls.
What a mess up there! 36 people died in Ghost Ship, that could easily happen again! It's just like the nonsense at the Oroville Dam, why are these kinds of hazards ignored?!