Ridge High School Graduate Dies In Warehouse Fire: Report

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — A Ridge High School graduate is among those still missing from the deadly warehouse fire that killed at least 33 in southern California Friday night, according to news reports.

Griffin Madden, 23, graduated from Ridge High School in June 2011, according to tapinto.net.

Madden graduated from UC Berkeley in 2015 with degrees in philosophy, and slavic languages and literature, according to a local news outlet.

Nine bodies have been recovered and officials say they are working to identify those victims, according to the report. Investigators were looking into whether people were living in that warehouse illegally.

The number of bodies recovered from an Oakland warehouse being used for an unlicensed electronic music dance party Friday has risen to nine, with dozens more victims believed to be inside.

Flames tore through the warehouse, known as the "Ghost Ship," in what could be the deadliest fire in the city's history.

During a 6 p.m. press briefing Saturday night, Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office in California told reporters that the identification process on the bodies has already begun. All of the bodies have been fingerprinted. The goal is to notify distraught families as quickly as possible.

Read more: Oakland Warehouse Fire: Nine Bodies Recovered, Dozens More Deaths Suspected (UPDATES)

Kelly also said “at least two dozen people” are missing, and later added "it may be more than two dozen.” The problem with giving an exact count at this time is, “We don’t know how many people were inside.”
Earlier in the day, Kelly said, "We're prepared for a mass casualty event."

More bodies have been spotted in the wreckage, Kelly said, but those bodies cannot easily be reached. Heavy equipment is being brought in, and crews will work through the night. The interior of the building is a mass of wreckage. The entire roof collapsed onto the second floor, which in turn collapsed onto the first floor.

The victims are in their 20s to 30s and some are from outside the United States, Kelly said. There have been no reports of minors being in the building.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said she met with a roomful of families whose loved ones are missing in the fire.

The fire department responded to the structure fire around 11:30 p.m. Friday in the 1300 block of 31st Avenue. An event called "Golden Donna 100% Silk 2016 West Coast Tour" was apparently taking place at the location of the fire. Crews did not hear any smoke detectors going off when they arrived and the building had no sprinklers.

— Additional reporting by Katie Kausch (Patch Staff)

Image Screenshot of video via Oakland Fire

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