Ghost Ship Fire: The City Bears the Most Responsibility

The city bears most of the responsibility for the 36 deaths. It is the city’s responsibility to inspect.

Given the fact that Oakland is known for these types of warehouses the city should have been all the more proactive about safety and health inspections.

Yes the operators/managers were sleazy, but that’s how cities are: There are people like that. It is the city’s responsibility engage in regular inspections and to hold people like that accountable.

The city failed, probably in numerous ways and on numerous instances.

Whether or not an inspector or other responsible authority ever went into the warehouse – and not knowing the full details I can surmise that one did not – itself indicative of damning ineptitude and failure on the part of the city – if one had ever gone into the building it would have been immediately apparent what a dilapidated fire trap it was and at that instant there should have been citations and warnings issued and potentially other more serious legal actions.

Actually in the most recent news article mention was made that at least one police officer was in the building several years ago. While it is not the job of law enforcement to deal with building and housing violations, it should have been flagged and forwarded to the appropriate agency(ies).

Had there been a robust agency or agencies responsible for conducting regular inspections, they would have been notified about potential serious issues and responded in a prompt manner.