Crisis-Trained Chaplains Ministering in Oakland After Deadly Warehouse Fire

By   •   December 3, 2016

Crisis-trained Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains spend time with people near a makeshift memorial for victims of the Oakland warehouse fire, which killed 36 people.

Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are offering a ministry of presence in Oakland, California, following one of the deadliest building fires in recent U.S. history. It broke out late on Friday, Dec. 2 and lasted into early Saturday morning, killing 36 people.

The fire started on the second floor of a warehouse on 31st Avenue, gutting the two-story building where people were gathered for a party. The building, known as the Oakland Ghost Ship, hosted artists’ studios.

It took hours for the Oakland Fire Department to put out the dangerous fire as friends and family frantically tried to reach their loved ones by phone or social media. The building’s roof collapsed in the blaze, making the search process that much more difficult. Firefighters have spent days now sorting through debris and wreckage.

Rapid Response chaplains are in the area offering a ministry of presence to the community in the wake of this horrific tragedy, which made national headlines over the weekend.

Chaplains also deployed to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, last week and to western North Carolina last month following recent wildfires there.

Please pray for families who lost loved ones in the Oakland fire and for chaplains as they offer a ministry of presence to the community during this time.