A growing memorial in Oakland. As the names of those identified are released people are coming here to mourn their friends pic.twitter.com/RtRfUE8T6G
— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) December 5, 2016
Before the Raiders took the field yesterday, the Oakland Coliseum went silent in a moment to honor the victims of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.
#Raiders ask for a moment of silence in recognition of those that lost their lives in Friday's tragic warehouse fire on Oakland. pic.twitter.com/1GIa4paXBI
— Chris McClain (@ChrisMcClain) December 4, 2016
While perhaps the largest in terms of sheer numbers, that moment was but one of many in which the Bay Area community came together in the wake of the disaster this Friday, and there are more to come.
Soon, for another example, the Raiders joined forces with the Oakland A's to raise relief funds. Then the Golden State Warriors announced their added support: That team will donated $50,000 to the relief effort, ABC7 wrote.
The Oakland Athletics and @RAIDERS will now match up to $50,000 each in relief of the #OaklandFire. https://t.co/xYHSzfb3Lz pic.twitter.com/46Nt2dlSLB
— Oakland A's 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) December 5, 2016
Meanwhile, near the site of the destroyed warehouse at 31st Ave. and E.12th Street in Oakland, flowers, candles, and notes formed a memorial for the disaster victims. That was observed on Sunday according to KRON4.
There are a couple of these sidewalk memorials near the #oaklandfire warehouse.@kron4news pic.twitter.com/QPY08ZBZuq
— Spencer Blake (@spencerjblake) December 5, 2016
Agencies have also begun to provide care to concerned and grieving families as well as displaced former residents of the space. "There has been some assistance given to the people that were living in the facility," American Red Cross Health Services Coordinator Colleen Sasso told KPIX5. "[We] will provide condolence services for the families as that all plays out,”
One aspect of those services has included therapy dogs from the Valley Humane Society in Pleasanton. “They seem to know who needs comfort and who doesn’t," Denise Laberee explained the dogs' instinctual reactions to the news channel. "[They’ll] just walk up to someone and lean against them. It absolutely provides care, comfort, calming, and they don’t even know they need it a lot of the times, which is why the dogs are so valuable."
Comfort dogs have arrived at @ACSOSheriffs substation. #oaklandfire pic.twitter.com/HEtPdTgMUv
— Katie Marzullo (@KatieABC7) December 4, 2016
Further, churches in the East Bay included the Oakland community affected by the disaster in their prayers: KGO reported that every Oakland church acknowledged the fire during service on Sunday. "Their pain in many ways is our pain too," the station quotes Father Martin Jose Ibarra of Saint Elizabeth Church, which is just a few blocks from the scene of the blaze. "The loss of these young people is the loss of all of us,"
Mayor Libby Schaaf has contacted the Oakland Diocese asking for a vigil to be held by at the Cathedral of Christ the Light. "Join us here at The Cathedral tonight, December 5, from 6:00 - 7:00 pm to pray for those affected by the fire in Fruitvale this weekend," reads a post on the Cathedral's Facebook page.
A public Facebook event for a vigil nearby, also tonight from 8 to 10 p.m., at the Lake Merritt Pergola in Oakland. That event has thousands of indicated attendees and was updated to "ask for everyone to bring flameless candles, glow sticks, flashlights, or other type of light" rather than actual flames.
Finally, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts has already raised nearly $300,000 of a $350,000 goal for fire victims on the crowdfunding site YouCaring. "Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit that has been involved in the greater Bay Area artist community for the last 10 years, has deep and personal connections with many of the presumed victims of the tragedy,"representative Josette Melchor of the San Francisco-based group wrote.
Referring to the circumstances of the disaster at Ghost Ship, “This also represents the crunch we are all feeling on the lack of safe venues to support this type of music and art,” Melchor wrote. “Please care for each other right now.”
Related: Profiles Of Eight People Who Died In The Oakland Warehouse Fire