3 Dead, More Than 80 Escape 4-Alarm West Oakland Fire

OAKLAND, CA — Three people are dead and four were taken to the hospital when a 4-alarm inferno consumed a huge residential building in Oakland early Monday. The injured are expected to be released from the hospital shortly.

Firefighters also rescued 15 people from the building. Most of the 86 tenants had gotten out on their own before firefighters arrived, according to fire officials.

At least one person is still unaccounted for, raising fears that the death toll could grow.

The numbers have slowly grown through the day.

One victim has been identified by the coroner's bureau as 64-year-old Edwarn Anderson.

The building is at the intersection of San Pablo and Mead avenues in Oakland.

James Cook, an attorney with John Burris Law Offices, said the building is a transitional housing facility for homeless people, people getting out of prison and people with mental health issues.

The facility is a 62-unit building operated by Urojas Community Services, a faith-based organization acting as the master tenant, Cook said.

The building's owner served the tenant with a 30-day eviction notice last week, but they were trying to stay and planning to file a breach of contract lawsuit, according to Cook. He described the building as "virtually uninhabitable," with exposed wires and backed up plumbing inside.

"I think there were a lot of issues going on in that building," Cook said.

The inferno was initially fought from inside by firefighters with hoses as they searched for victims. However, all firefighters were pulled out of the building and battled the flames from the outside only because it was unsafe to have crews inside. The entire roof collapsed.

The fire did not spread to surrounding structures.

-Images via Bay City News and Oakland Fire; BCN contributed to this story