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US agency completes work at site of Oakland warehouse blaze

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have their completed work at the scene of a fatal warehouse fire that broke out during a dance party, killing 36 people.

ATF spokeswoman Alexandria Corneiro said Sunday the agency’s team has left the site but that the scene in Oakland is still being secured. The deadliest building fire in the U.S. in more than a decade ripped through the warehouse during a dance party on the night of Dec. 2.

Corneiro says in a statement that ATF special agent Jill Snyder, who leads the bureau’s San Francisco field division, and representatives from partner agencies will hold a news conference on Tuesday to talk about the investigation.

Snyder said Friday investigators had ruled out a refrigerator as the source of the fire, but they were still looking at electrical systems as potential causes.

Also on Sunday, funeral services were held for two victims of the warehouse fire.

Separate funerals were held in the San Francisco Bay Area for video artist Jonathan Bernbaum and the youngest victim, 17-year-old Draven McGill, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Relatives and loved ones described Bernbaum, a 34-year-old Berkeley native and Oakland resident, a smart man who loved all things media, had a penchant for arguing and was a loyal friend and son who kept in touch, the newspaper said.

Services were also held for McGill, the youngest person to die in the blaze. The private services, held at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hayward, included a performance by the Pacific Boychoir Academy, to McGill belonged, the Chronicle reported. His father is Alameda County sheriff’s Deputy Phil McGill

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This story has been corrected to say that the ATF and partner agencies will hold a news conference on Tuesday to talk about the investigation.