OAKLAND — Federal authorities on Wednesday joined the investigation into what sparked a five-alarm blaze that destroyed the nearly completed 126-unit Ice House townhouse complex in West Oakland.
Oakland fire Chief Darin White asked for patience as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ 20-member National Response Team gets to work.
“It’s important to keep in mind that they’re just getting started,” White said at news conference at the city’s emergency operations center. “They have a lot of work ahead of them. It’s a very large incident and it’s a very large site. So because of that we ask for your patience.”
Patrick Gorman, an assistant special agent in charge with the ATF, said the team will remain in Oakland as long as it takes.
“They will stay here until the job is finished because we empathize and understand how much of a serious impact this is,” Gorman said. “They’re not going to go home until we determine the cause and origin and we can make a determination as to whether it’s accidental, incendiary or undetermined.”
Investigators are planning to review video surveillance footage and interview witnesses, including a security guard working at the construction site when the fire started.
The fire at West Grand Avenue and Myrtle Street was reported shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday. It was extinguished 16 hours later and firefighters have remained at the scene to guard against flare-ups.
One firefighter injured his leg while fighting the fire, authorities said. He was treated at a hospital and released.
West Grand was open to traffic as of Wednesday, but a portion of Myrtle north of Grand remained blocked. The fire site is bounded by West Grand, Myrtle, Filbert and 24th streets.
Mayor Libby Schaaf on Tuesday said arsonists are to blame for similar fires at nearly completed housing projects.
Since 2016, at least three fires set by an arsonist have engulfed apartment buildings being built in Oakland, two of them at the same structure near the Emeryville border about a year apart. No arrests have been made in connection with any of the conflagrations.
Gorman said the ATF was aware of the other fires but would focus its efforts on the Ice House fire.
“We will treat this investigation independent of other fires, but we are obviously aware that there have been other similar fires in the greater Oakland area,” Gorman said.
Federal authorities are also probing a reported arson attempt at another construction site at 3266 Peralta St.
Simon Chen, chief financial officer for developer Madison Park, said four security guards were on duty when that fire occurred. The arsonist waited until a shift change about 30 minutes after the Ice House fire was reported to enter one of the units closest to completion, he said.
The suspect “busted through the window” and the guard returned to find smoke. Chen said the fire didn’t get very large, and by the time firefighters put it out, a hammer, lighter, gas canister and rag were found. There was minimal damage to the unit.
Chen said Madison Park spends $50,000 to $60,000 a month on security for the site.
“But even with that you don’t feel entirely safe, I don’t think you can,” he said. “It’s part of developing in the Bay Area these days; there’s all sorts of different hurdles and this is just another one.”
There was another fire at the Ice House site on April 29. An email obtained by this news organization revealed that authorities warned then about “lax security at a building that is in its most vulnerable stage of construction.”
Developer City Ventures CEO Phil Kerr said the company stepped up its security after that fire, including installing more surveillance cameras. Security guards monitoring those cameras alerted authorities to Tuesday’s fire.
There does not appear to be a direct connection between the two fires, according to White.
About 100 of the units at the Ice House project had been sold and keys to 40 of them were set to be handed over to families in December, according to Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson.
White said he was concerned about the impact the fires were having on a critical need in Oakland: housing.
“From the housing standpoint, we can look around and see clearly that we need more housing. So any effort to derail or inhibit additional housing being built, I think it’s counterproductive, and I think it’s very unfortunate because you’re in essence displacing people,” White said.
“Clearly I’d like to see this stop,” he continued. “I’m very concerned about it and I’m very optimistic that the NRT and the ATF are here to help us try to determine cause and origin.”
Anyone with information about the fire can contact the Oakland Fire Department Arson Investigation Unit at 510-238-4031.