OAKLAND (KRON) — Oakland artists are pulling together to help their friends living in warehouses get up to code.
In the wake of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire, artists in the community fear their living spaces will be targeted for building inspections that they are not ready for.
However, there is an effort underway to help those folks.
Fire prevention tools are being donated in a story you will only see on KRON4.
“This is just about getting people up to date and up to code regardless of their financial ability to do so,” said Lizzy Wassei, who donated some fire extinguishers.
Wassei is moving these fire extinguishers into the garage, and from there, they will be recycled for use, she says.
“Today, I am organizing getting these extinguishers up to date and serviced so that way we can distribute them to those that were affected by the Ghost Ship fire and friends and musicians and artists and anyone that was affected,” Wassei said.
Or as she mentioned, the extinguishers are for anyone living in housing that is not up to Bay Area housing and building codes.
“We can use the fire extinguisher and save lives,” said Abdul Wassei, who is with Alpha Fire Control.
Abdul, who is Lizzy’s father, is the owner of Alpha Fire Control in Pleasanton, a family owned and operated business that specializes in servicing fire extinguishers.
“We hydro test the shell and…fill it with powder and pressurize them and make them ready to go and donate this one for people who need it,” Abdul said.
“When we were kids. we used to make jokes about how all of the fire extinguishers…were filling the garage,” Oakland artist BG Anaraki said.
Lizzy’s childhood friend Anaraki is also helping to organize this effort.
Anaraki arrived to the Ghost Ship 5 minutes after the fire started killing 36 people, including Anaraki’s roommate and two other close friends.
“I’m not yet at the point that I can think about that fact that another incident like this may happen because I am still coping, but I know that it could, and this thing that we are doing could make it less horrible,” Anaraki said.
Forty fire extinguishers are being donated by Alpha Fire Control.
It will take about 48 hours to get them tested and in artists living spaces in the Bay Area.