Nine dead in fire at 100% Silk party in Oakland

[cooliofranco]

100% silk is a great label run by some super nice people. This is terrible news. Nine dead in fire at 100% Silk party in Oakland

 

I can't imagine selling records is what they're thinking about now, but supporting them seems like the right thing to do from here. Here are links to their Soundcloud and their shop.

 

 

[Herr Jan]

Damn, that's horrible... :(

[Lada Laika]

Holy shit. That's devastating. Condolences to all.

[manmower]

25 "still unaccounted for"? Damn.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

spreadsheet of missing people https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D0YJ31ZnFUdwqSt4ecd-IndBWOCnWoKLCnE_7wSE-Vc/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0

[ignatius]

could be as many as 40 dead. so sad. 

 

friends of friends were there and are missing. everyone's super sad and shocked. fuck.  already tracked down my friends in the bay area to make sure they're ok. they are but they lost some people :(

 

life is short. wtf. 

[ignatius]

[doublename]

What a nightmare.

[sheatheman]

I understand the point about sprinkler systems, but as someone who has lived in shitty places geared toward "artists", you have to realize there often isn't another choice. Blaming the people who choose to live in communal spaces is disgusting.

[sheatheman]

I'm not talking about you. If you follow the coverage, that's the prevailing narrative.

[lamourfou]

awful, so horrifying. they have an account you can donate to here https://www.youcaring.com/firevictimsofoaklandfiredec232016-706684

[koolkeyZ865]

Thank you for the link - will be sure to donate.

[Lewps]

Oh no a tragedy like this would leave the scene decimated for ever :( 

[ignatius]

here's a first hand account from reddit. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5ga0nl/nine_people_have_been_confirmed_dead_with_25/daqs5ml/

 

There was only one exit. I was on the top floor when the fire started, so I don't know how it got started. I distinctly remember thinking that this probably wasn't a big deal and/or that it was maybe a prank. 

After the fire started I walked to the top of the stairs where there was only enough room for one maybe two people to go down at a time. At this point I still didn't think it was a big deal. It wasn't until a girl ahead of me came back up the stairs and yelled that "it's too thick everyone back up to the top." (This may not be exactly what she said but I'm this whole period is kind of a blur it's the gist of it however)

That was when I realized that this was very serious and that I was in big trouble. At this point I realized that my best shot at survival was to find my way down the stairs and and try and find the exit. My decision to go down was a coin flip at that point because I was terrified. The kind of fear I felt was not the kind of fear I have ever felt towards anything in my entire life. This was a primal sort of fear. I very much didn't care about other people making it out as long as I did at this point. Luckily I don't think I smashed into anybody or hit them on my way out. I completely lost track of my two friends during this time period to give an example of how one track minded I was. I feel really bad that I didn't care and I feel like I should have said something to all those people before I jumped down. Maybe give them a fighting chance if they realized that down was the only potential option for survival. 

Bear in mind that the time it took for me to first see smoke and reach the top of the stairs before things got really bad was only like a minute. 

So once I slipped and slid down the stairs keep in mind that these were the worst crafted stairs ever. (The first bit was like a ramp almost. And then the steps had varying heights sometimes almost coming up to thigh level. I'm 5'9 so while I'm not super tall that's enough for some of the steps to be way too tall for stairs.) 

Once I made it down the stairs I tried to crawl to where I knew the exit was. I had a good general idea of its distance from me but I would have to find two doors and to try and get out. Even though I had an idea of where I was because of coming down the stairs the way I stumbled down basically made it so it's very likely that I wouldn't find an exit. 

Once I was down there it was awful. I couldn't see or breathe. It was hot smoky and hard to focus. Thankfully at this point it wasn't so hot that I was burning just being there. There were other people crawling around on the floor too. 

So I was down there and I was having trouble finding the exit. At this point I genuinely thought I was going to die choking on smoke in these horrid conditions. Part of this was definitely because the lower level is like a fucking maze. The stair room had three different exits and only one would have been the way to outside.

So I had only been down on the floor for 15ish seconds. (Even though it genuinely felt like I was down there for eternity.) As I was down there blindly trying to find the door to get out I got really lucky. Some dude who had already gotten out stood right by the exit with all the billowing smoke and was repeatedly yelling "this is the exit" "exit." I can say without a doubt that that dude saved my life. If he wasn't there yelling I would have never found the exit and I probably would have died. 

Once I got outside I ran into one of my friends who had been inside. He had been behind me to go down the stairs and had somehow gotten out in front of me. I was so happy that at least we had made it out. 

The outside looked to me like a fucking warzone. People were covered in soot and crying and hugging each other and screaming. Lots of people were calling out their friends names in an effort to find them. I just kind of stood and there and stared hoping that my other friend had made it out and that everyone would make it out safe.

Once I got out, only two more people made it out after I did. 

In around five minutes or so the fire department showed up. by the time they reached the scene the entire building was in flames. For a thirty or so minute period I stood there waiting for the them to try and get people out in the vain hope that my other friend had made it out and that they would be able to get everyone out.

During this time period it really looked like the fire was starting to go down. And there was a chance of saving more lives. Unfortunately everyone's hopes were crushed when in the space of one second the fire got like three times worse. It started coming out the windows and the roof caught fire. I waited there for close to three or four hours hoping that we could get some information about our friend. I still don't know what happened to him or if he's even okay.

Also I should note that the building went up so fast. I'd have to say it was probably 3/4s on fire in under 3 minutes.

I'm really tired and the night is very blurry, plus i'm typing this on my phone so if there are any spelling/ grammar errors and the story isn't very coherent I apologize. I might have messed up some of the details as well. It's also very hard for me to talk about this but I still decided to because I think that my memory of the night is only going to get worse from here.

 

 

[Lada Laika]

Jesus fucking christ that's terrifying

[cooliofranco]

whoah horrible news.

 

anyone know if this would be considered an 'illegal venue' or was it like a proper licensed place?  no sprinkler system in the building, it says. wonder who is to blame for that? 

 

seems like it could be a lot more than 9 dead too. condolences + respects to victims and families.

 

 

 

ok my av + member title don't work well in serious threads sorry about that

 

 

Like most of us here, I've been to tons of parties like this, played a few, and even organized some. It sounds like the space was known to authorities, who were met with resistance when they tried to enforce regulations. My point is, It wasn't totally off the map- not an abandoned tunnel or something like that.

 

My wife and I looked at pics to figure out whether we had been to this venue, and we hadn't. But we've definitely been to places exactly this, in Oakland even. I don't know why these collectives tend to collect zany wood sculptures and organize themselves into mazes. My guess is the inhabitants were big time Burning Man aficionados.

 

Quasi-legal venues seem unavoidable, given economics and their "extra cool" status. So let's think of these poor people the next time we party, and be a little more dorky: make sure we know where exits are, not get totally fucked up, shame the promoters if it's dangerous, and encourage folks to leave if it's beyond the pale. Also, if this inspires a more aggressive approach from law enforcement, let's not be jerks, and try to work with them. After all, most of them are just the dudes you went to high school with.

[goDel]

wow what a story... 

[Guest]

aww fuck.... dese poor souls :(

 

we have a DIY artist warehouse thing like this basically next door. Think they raised some funds and partially at least tried to keep fire-proofness in mind for some of the later construction work that happened but yeh... fire better don't happen imho.

[doublename]

33+ deaths now. This is utterly horrific. 

 

edit - http://nyti.ms/2gD5TmW

[Goiter Sanchez]

I know some of the people who are still unaccounted for and have to face the fact that they're not likely to be found alive at this point.

The Bay Area scene for more interesting electronic music is something fragile and precious that needs to be supported and nurtured. I know we can rebound from this and come back stronger, but it's a deep gash.

[Goiter Sanchez]

 

here's a first hand account from reddit. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5ga0nl/nine_people_have_been_confirmed_dead_with_25/daqs5ml/

 

There was only one exit. I was on the top floor when the fire started, so I don't know how it got started. I distinctly remember thinking that this probably wasn't a big deal and/or that it was maybe a prank. 

After the fire started I walked to the top of the stairs where there was only enough room for one maybe two people to go down at a time. At this point I still didn't think it was a big deal. It wasn't until a girl ahead of me came back up the stairs and yelled that "it's too thick everyone back up to the top." (This may not be exactly what she said but I'm this whole period is kind of a blur it's the gist of it however)

That was when I realized that this was very serious and that I was in big trouble. At this point I realized that my best shot at survival was to find my way down the stairs and and try and find the exit. My decision to go down was a coin flip at that point because I was terrified. The kind of fear I felt was not the kind of fear I have ever felt towards anything in my entire life. This was a primal sort of fear. I very much didn't care about other people making it out as long as I did at this point. Luckily I don't think I smashed into anybody or hit them on my way out. I completely lost track of my two friends during this time period to give an example of how one track minded I was. I feel really bad that I didn't care and I feel like I should have said something to all those people before I jumped down. Maybe give them a fighting chance if they realized that down was the only potential option for survival. 

Bear in mind that the time it took for me to first see smoke and reach the top of the stairs before things got really bad was only like a minute. 

So once I slipped and slid down the stairs keep in mind that these were the worst crafted stairs ever. (The first bit was like a ramp almost. And then the steps had varying heights sometimes almost coming up to thigh level. I'm 5'9 so while I'm not super tall that's enough for some of the steps to be way too tall for stairs.) 

Once I made it down the stairs I tried to crawl to where I knew the exit was. I had a good general idea of its distance from me but I would have to find two doors and to try and get out. Even though I had an idea of where I was because of coming down the stairs the way I stumbled down basically made it so it's very likely that I wouldn't find an exit. 

Once I was down there it was awful. I couldn't see or breathe. It was hot smoky and hard to focus. Thankfully at this point it wasn't so hot that I was burning just being there. There were other people crawling around on the floor too. 

So I was down there and I was having trouble finding the exit. At this point I genuinely thought I was going to die choking on smoke in these horrid conditions. Part of this was definitely because the lower level is like a fucking maze. The stair room had three different exits and only one would have been the way to outside.

So I had only been down on the floor for 15ish seconds. (Even though it genuinely felt like I was down there for eternity.) As I was down there blindly trying to find the door to get out I got really lucky. Some dude who had already gotten out stood right by the exit with all the billowing smoke and was repeatedly yelling "this is the exit" "exit." I can say without a doubt that that dude saved my life. If he wasn't there yelling I would have never found the exit and I probably would have died. 

Once I got outside I ran into one of my friends who had been inside. He had been behind me to go down the stairs and had somehow gotten out in front of me. I was so happy that at least we had made it out. 

The outside looked to me like a fucking warzone. People were covered in soot and crying and hugging each other and screaming. Lots of people were calling out their friends names in an effort to find them. I just kind of stood and there and stared hoping that my other friend had made it out and that everyone would make it out safe.

Once I got out, only two more people made it out after I did. 

In around five minutes or so the fire department showed up. by the time they reached the scene the entire building was in flames. For a thirty or so minute period I stood there waiting for the them to try and get people out in the vain hope that my other friend had made it out and that they would be able to get everyone out.

During this time period it really looked like the fire was starting to go down. And there was a chance of saving more lives. Unfortunately everyone's hopes were crushed when in the space of one second the fire got like three times worse. It started coming out the windows and the roof caught fire. I waited there for close to three or four hours hoping that we could get some information about our friend. I still don't know what happened to him or if he's even okay.

Also I should note that the building went up so fast. I'd have to say it was probably 3/4s on fire in under 3 minutes.

I'm really tired and the night is very blurry, plus i'm typing this on my phone so if there are any spelling/ grammar errors and the story isn't very coherent I apologize. I might have messed up some of the details as well. It's also very hard for me to talk about this but I still decided to because I think that my memory of the night is only going to get worse from here.

 

 

 

Oh fuck I am getting a panic attack just reading this. It really is imperative that one knows where the exits are in any venue, legal or not.

[joshuatxuk]

Robbie (fluorescent grey / awepittance / etc) who used to be a longtime and frequent watmm poster has some insight on the venue and the guy running it, since he's been a part of the Oakland and Bay are music scene for a long time. He lost 3 friends in the fire. He's quick to point the frustrating narrative by some media outlets (calling it a rave, illegal party, etc.) but also shed some light on the longstanding controversies and issues surrounding ghostship owner and operator. He also prematurely commented about how sad he was that he lost his home and possessions before the huge death too came in. As Shea mentioned, this is the case in many expensive cities - "venues" for music scenes like this are often these very iffy spaces and buildings.

 

The venue/art space had improvised borrowed electricity - sketchy setups you'd see normally in favellas or squatted warehouses. It had a second story accessible only by 'stairs' built out of pallets. Inside it was a maze of antiques, art, statues, pianos, and other stuff. Many have run into issues regarding booking and sales. 100% Silk themselves didn't officially put the show on, it was a DIY event with mostly 100% Silk artists.

 

If there's anything to be said is we all should be mindful of our surroundings at indoor gigs. These tragedies just take one small freak fire to trigger a disaster.  

[Lada Laika]

Apparently Nackt and Cherushii are among those still missing.

 

https://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=37518

[Adieu]

I can't help but think this will happen to us in Houston. We're gonna burn for Pritchard.

 

stop it. I've already been thinking about this.

[joshuatxuk]

 

I can't help but think this will happen to us in Houston. We're gonna burn for Pritchard.

 

stop it. I've already been thinking about this.

 

 

It's a night and day comparison between the barbara jordan post office and ghostship though (pun totally intended)

 

Here are pics of the Day for Night venue, which is a new renovation FYI. Cities in Texas are pretty strict on fire code. I've been too a event at SXSW and was at a very similar warehouse and when they reached capacity it was still very open and easy to find exits.