Ghost Ship warehouse fire

On December 2, 2016, at about 11:20 p.m. PST, a fire started in a former warehouse that had been unlawfully converted into an artist collective with living spaces (named the Ghost Ship) in Oakland, California, which was hosting a concert with 80–100 attendees. The building, located in the Fruitvale neighborhood, was zoned for only industrial purposes; residential and entertainment uses were prohibited. The blaze killed 36 people, making it the deadliest fire in the history of Oakland. It was also the deadliest building fire in the United States since The Station nightclub fire in 2003, the deadliest in California since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the deadliest mass-casualty event in Oakland since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Master tenant Derick Almena lived on the premises with his wife and three children, and sub-let the first floor to about 20 other residents who were instructed to not divulge that they lived there. In Almena's lease for the building, he did not say that it would be used as a residence, and on two occasions he told police that nobody lived in the building. The Alameda County district attorney's office launched an investigation into the fire's causes, and in 2017 charged Almena and his assistant Max Harris with felony involuntary manslaughter. In 2018, both pleaded no contest to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in a plea bargain with prosecutors, but the judge overseeing the case discarded the plea deals and the men were tried in court, facing as many as 36 years in prison.

On September 4, 2019, the jury deadlocked 10–2 for conviction on the 36 counts of manslaughter against Almena, resulting in a mistrial, while Harris was acquitted on all 36 counts. In 2021, Almena pled guilty to the 36 counts and was sentenced to 12 years in prison and released for time served.

In July 2020, the city of Oakland settled a civil lawsuit for the victims and agreed to pay $33 million: $9 million to one person who survived with lifelong injuries and $24 million to the families of the 36 who were killed in the fire. In August 2020, Pacific Gas and Electric Company settled a civil lawsuit for 32 of the victims for an undisclosed amount.

The 9,880-square-foot (918 m²) 160-by-48-foot (49 by 15 m) cement-block warehouse was constructed in 1930. The property was purchased in 1988 by Chor Ng, who is linked to 17 other properties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ng also owned a body shop, cell phone store and other businesses nearby. The autobody shop and the cell-phone store shared their electrical supply with the Ghost Ship. One former resident reported that the building's electrical system was entirely dependent on extension cords, and she was so concerned about safety that she would sleep in her car.

Ng leased the property to Derick Almena and Nicholas Bouchard in 2013. They stated in the lease agreement that the property would be used as an artist collective "to build and create theatrical sets and offer workshops for community outreach." Almena named the building the Ghost Ship. He lived on the second floor with his wife and three children. He illegally sublet space on the first floor, charging about 25 resident artists rent ranging between $300 and $600 per month. The monthly rate for a one-bedroom apartment in Oakland at the time typically exceeded $2,000.

Almena instructed resident members of the collective, informally called Satya Yuga, to tell others that the warehouse was a 24-hour art studio and to not divulge that they lived there. In 2014 or 2015, Almena told police that no one lived in the building, and he repeated the same statement several months before the fire. A former tenant claimed that Almena used the tenants' rent to cover the warehouse rent and used proceeds from the parties to pay his living expenses.

Use of the warehouse building for housing and entertainment was illegal. Living spaces on the first floor were connected by makeshift hallways constructed of "aggregates of salvaged and scavenged materials, such as pianos, organs, windows, wood benches, lumber, and innumerable other items stacked next to and on top of each other." The live-work spaces were separated by objects such as "wooden studs, steel beams, doors, window frames, bed frames, railings, pianos, benches, chairs, intact motorhomes and trailers, portions of trailers, corrugated metal sheeting, tapestries, plywood, sculptures, tree stumps and tree limbs."