Investigators Search for Clues in Fatal Fire, Friends Mourn

Investigators Search for Clues in Fatal Fire, Friends Mourn
Mourners embrace near the site of a warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 4, 2016. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
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OAKLAND, Calif.—As investigators searched for signs of a crime in the fire that killed at least 33 in an Oakland warehouse during a late-night dance party, survivors and teary-eyed friends of those who perished viewed the charred building from a distance, placed flowers on several small memorials and embraced each other to mourn their losses.

Bouquets of sunflowers, single white roses, lilies and carnations were stuck in chain-link fences, votive candles burned on sidewalks and post-it notes paid tribute to the missing and the dead in the most lethal building fire in the U.S. in more than a decade.

Kai Thomas and a group of red-eyed classmates from an arts high school in San Francisco pressed against police tape Sunday near the street corner where the “Ghost Ship,” a warehouse converted to artist studios and illegal living spaces, rapidly went up in flames late Friday, taking the life of a friend.

Sol Rodriguez, center, and Aaron Torres visit a shrine for the victims of a warehouse fire near the site in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Sol Rodriguez, center, and Aaron Torres visit a shrine for the victims of a warehouse fire near the site in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 4, 2016. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez