OAKLAND (KRON) — Officials announced Tuesday afternoon that a local state of emergency has been declared in the Oakland warehouse fire.

The city council is expected to ratify the request by Thursday.

Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed said that will make the city eligible for state and federal funds to assist residents and businesses that have been affected by the fire.

Authorities have identified 35 of the 36 victims.

SECTION:Deadly Oakland warehouse fire

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says it is looking at the possibility that a refrigerator or other appliance was the source of a warehouse fire that killed 36 people.

The agency is still trying to determine what may have caused the fire.

Jill Snyder, the special agent in charge of the ATF’s San Francisco office, said it’s too early to say for sure a refrigerator caused the blaze, but she said it was a potential source of ignition.

Snyder said investigators are looking at anything electrical on the first floor of the warehouse near where the fire started.

The fire broke out during a dance party Friday night. Crews have searched 90 percent of the building for bodies.

Heavy machinery was being used Tuesday afternoon to knock down structurally unsafe parapets at the building.

The three-alarm fire at the “Ghost Ship,” a warehouse at 1305 31st Ave. used as a live/work space by an artist collective, sparked at about 11:30 p.m. during an electronic music show.

Sheriff’s officials said they don’t think additional bodies will be found.

Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office said a criminal investigation into the warehouse fire will look at everything.

Crews will be taking down parts of the roof and knock inside the building to check for safety, according to KRON4’s Dan Kerman.

The area where debris will fall is clear of bodies.

Special Agent in Charge Jill Snyder with the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Tuesday afternoon that a refrigerator near the back of the building was a possible

ignition source, but that has not been conclusively determined.

Snyder said investigators are being “very meticulous” as they search through the wreckage and are looking at other appliances and electrical outlets for a possible source.

She said there is no indication at this point that the fire was intentionally set.

Fire Operations Chief Mark Hoffman said crews planned to knock the parapets down into the building, but clarified that the area where they will fall has been searched and cleared of any bodies or evidence.

Authorities said they have brought in cadaver dogs and used other tools during the search and believe there are not any more bodies in the 10 percent of the building still not searched.

The coroner’s bureau has released the names of 17 victims, while an 18th, a San Francisco high school student, was identified by his school.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has launched a criminal investigation of the incident.

Snyder said that authorities hope to complete the search of the building before rainy weather hits the Bay Area.

Alameda County Sheriff’s Spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said family members of 30 of the 35 identified victims have been notified so far and the five other families are being notified Tuesday night.

He said authorities will need to use dental records or DNA to identify the victim who hasn’t yet been identified.

Nelson said he hopes that no more bodies will be found at the site and coroner’s officials have left the scene.

BUILDING DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf says the city will release all building department documents about the warehouse for last 30 years. There was a total of three complaints.

Schaaf said the warehouse was the subject of two complaints in 2014 and one in 2015. On Sept. 30, 2014, there was a complaint about pallets and construction materials blocking a sidewalk and on Dec. 8, 2014, there was a complaint about construction of a structure or house without a permit.

On Nov. 16, 2015, the mayor said, there was a complaint about a vacant lot being used as a parking lot in a homeless camping ground.Schaaf said the separate parcel at 1305 31st Ave. received 18 complaints dating back to 1988, with 16 of those occurring between 1988 and 2014 and two this year.

On Nov. 14 there was a complaint about an illegal interior building structure and on Nov. 13 there was a complaint about garbage piling up, items left on the sidewalk and a storage area being turned into a trash

recycle site.

When Schaaf was asked if there was a systematic failure by public officials to crack down on the warehouse’s owners and managers, Schaaf said, “I’m not prepared to draw any conclusions” at this time and said police officers that responded to complaints at the site aren’t trained in zoning laws.

Asked if inspectors should have pushed harder to get inside the warehouse to look at the building, Schaaf said, “It’s not my job to second guess decisions made by inspectors.”

Schaaf said protocol calls for inspectors who are denied entry to a building to investigate a complaint to then send a request to the building owner to be allowed inside and she said inspectors did make such a request before the deadly fire.

Schaaf said the city wants to prevent additional mass casualty fires from happening in the future and is working on improving building codes and inspection procedures. She said details of that effort will be announced at a news conference at the city’s emergency operations center on Wednesday.WHAT CAUSED THE FIRE?

Reed said the origin and cause the fire remain undetermined, four days after the tragic event.

Reed’s comments seemed to contradict Special Agent in Charge Jill Snyder of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who said earlier Tuesday that a refrigerator near the back of the building was a possible ignition source.

However, Snyder said the cause has not been conclusively determined and investigators are continuing to search through the wreckage and are looking at other appliances and electrical outlets as a possible source for the blaze.

Snyder said there is no indication at this point that the fire was intentionally set but Reed declined to confirm that Tuesday night.

Reed also contradicted Deputy Fire Chief Darin White, who said earlier Tuesday that crews have searched about 90 percent of the burned-out wreckage in the building.

Reed said tonight that crews have only searched about 80 percent of the building and still need to look at 20 percent of the remains.

Mayor Schaaf says 18 complaints about vacant property next door @kron4news https://t.co/FBjNNdtqaF

The National Weather Service estimates that rain will come into the Bay Area late Wednesday.

Oakland Fire Chief: Local state of emergency has been declared, should be ratified by the City Council Thursday. Should free up state/fed $

For the latest updates from Oakland: http://www2.oaklandnet.com/OAK061753