It's defined as a warehouse....... How is that not a commercial building?Guess it depends on how the local government defines "business". In the DC metro area that building would have been shut down.No sprinkler system, no properly marked exits, only one way up and down from the 2nd story, fire extinguishers that apparently didn't work.
Commercial fire code inspections are mandated (in Oakland) every year. How the hell did this business slip through the cracks?
It wasn't a "business".
The party was held in a loft space used by an "artist's collective".
I'm not claiming the party was legal - it almost certainly was not - but the building was not a commercial building.
Because no commercial enterprise existed within it.