The man who leased an Oakland warehouse that was the site of a deadly blaze said he was “incredibly sorry” in the aftermath of the massive fire, which has killed at least 36 people.
“I am only here to say one thing,” Derick Almena said during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show. “That I am incredibly sorry. And that everything that I did was to make this a more stronger, more beautiful community. And to bring people together. People didn’t walk through those doors because it was a horrible place. People didn’t seek us out to perform and to express themselves because it was a horrible place.”
Almena and his wife, Micah Allison, leased the warehouse, which is known as the Oakland Ghost Ship. Almena started an artists’ collective in the space. Artists paid a small fee to live at the warehouse, which was managed by Almena and his wife, and owned by someone else.
The fatal fire erupted at the warehouse Friday night during a concert attended by more than 50 people. Investigators are still working to identify the remains of the victims and are starting to consider whether anyone will be held criminally liable for the blaze.
Almena appeared upset in his interview with “Today,” which at times grew tense and strained. When NBC’s Matt Lauer began the segment by saying good morning, Almena started to respond, then said: “It’s not a good morning.”
“What am I doing here?” he continued. “Can I just say I’m sorry? Can I just say – the only reason why I’m here is to put my face and my body here in front-”
That’s when Almena trailed off, sighed heavily, looked around and lowered his head. Lauer then mentioned the death toll, said that family members of the deceased want answers. Lauer then asked Almena if he should be held accountable for the loss.
“Am I the man who should be held accountable?” Almena said. “Did I build something that – with, what am I going to say to that? Should I be held accountable? I can barely stand here right now.”
Lauer responded that the question was a fair one, saying that conditions in the building might have contributed to the blaze.
“I laid my body down there every night,” Almena said. “We laid our bodies down there. We put our children to bed there every night. We made music, we created art, we opened our home. What became our home. It didn’t start off as our home. It started off as an initial dream, an idea that we would have a facility and a venue that would host everything from at-risk youth, to the gay community, to artists that couldn’t perform anywhere, to performance art and alternative arts.”
He continued: “And eventually, when you can’t pay your rent, because your dream is bigger than your pocket book, when the need for housing, when the need for people to be able to sit down and be warm and make food and take a shower and take a bath and go to bed, so we created something together. This stopped being me. This wasn’t about me three years ago. I signed a lease and I got a building that was to city standards, supposedly. I was lured into something that I had to constantly-”
That’s when Almena stopped again, and looked away, apparently struggling or frustrated.
The site wasn’t licensed as a space for dwellings or events, and an inspector had recently visited it after receiving complaints about trash as well as conditions in the building. NBC’s Tamron Hall mentioned those conditions in the interview in an attempt to ask Almena what he did to make sure the building was safe.
“I don’t want to talk about me. I don’t want to talk about profiting,” he said. “This is profit? The loss of mass life? I’m a father. I laid my three children down there every night. Profit? This is not profit. This is loss. This is a mass grave.”
Almena eventually grew combative and ended the interview, saying that he was “not going to answer these questions the way that you’re presenting them.”
“I didn’t do anything ever, in my life that would lead me up to this moment. I’m an honorable man, I’m a proud man, no, I’m not going to answer these questions on this level,” he said. “I would rather get on the floor and be trampled by the parents. I’d rather let them tear at my flesh than answer these ridiculous questions. I am so sorry, I’m incredibly sorry, what do you want me to say? I’m not going to answer these questions.”
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Sarah Larimer / [Featured Image via TODAY]
