OAKLAND, Calif. — Teachers, music lovers and the son of a sheriff's deputy were among those killed when a fire tore through a converted Oakland warehouse during a dance party.
The death toll from Friday night's fire climbed to 36 on Monday with more bodies still feared buried in the rubble.
The victims included 17-year-olds and people from Europe and Asia, Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said. Here's a closer look at who they were:
EXTRAORDINARY CO-WORKER
Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, made a warm impression on friends and colleagues in California and Rhode Island as a musician, teacher and community advocate who most recently worked for an independent publisher.
Berkeley, California-based publisher Counterpoint Press said Monday it was devastated by the loss of an "extraordinary co-worker and a true friend."
"Whether he was recommending new music to listen to (and it was always so good), regaling us with tales of the bowling alley, offering his beloved truck for a ride if anyone needed it or sharing his much-appreciated opinions about a jacket or manuscript, he made everyone feel like they were his friend," the company wrote in a social media post. "He was kind, considerate, hilarious."
Gomez-Hall was a 2013 graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he concentrated in American Studies. The university on Monday said he "played an integral role" in the school's Swearer Center for Public Service. He volunteered to teach at an elementary school while an undergraduate and later helped run an after-school program.
He also became well-known in Providence's music scene for playing guitar and singing in the two-man band Nightmom.
Gomez-Hall recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. He was originally from Southern California and graduated from Coronado High School.
Coronado High School Principal Jennifer Moore issued the following statement to school staff members Monday regarding Gomez-Hall's death:
"Our former student Nick Gomez Hall, CHS Class of 2009, perished in the Oakland fire this past weekend. Nick has two siblings, older brother Diego and younger brother Mario (Class of 2011), who also graduated from CHS.
Nick was wise, witty, talented, and incredibly kind and a friend to all. He was the type of student who seemed like a fellow adult when he would stop by his teachers' classrooms and counselors' and administrators' offices to chat about art, politics, history, literature, and life, as he often did. He was masterful in his ability to connect with others. He graduated from Brown University and was pursuing his passions, music and journalism.
Please keep Nick's family, friends, and former teachers and fans in your thoughts today, as you continue your important work connecting with our students and one another."
'TOTAL GOOFBALL'
Cash Askew, a 22-year-old musician from Oakland, was kind, gentle and a "total goofball," said her girlfriend, Anya Taylor.
The couple met about a year ago at a concert in Oakland and connected through their love of music.
Taylor told the Washington Post she rushed to the scene after hearing about the blaze, but "all we could do was stand there."
Leisa Baird Askew said her daughter grew up in a musical and artistic family.
Cash was one of two members of the band Them Are Us Too and had been performing with bandmate Kennedy Ashlyn since 2013. The duo met while studying at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Ashlyn said Askew had recently started becoming "her best self" after she came out as transgender about two years ago.
TEACHER, GARDENER
Sara Hoda, 30, of Walnut Creek, was a "sweet person" who gardened and taught at a Montessori school, friend Carol Crewdson told the Los Angeles Times.
Crewdson, 33, met Hoda in 2010 when they started a collective where artists and creatives could stay, avoiding the San Francisco Bay Area's high rent.
They lost touch after the collective shut down. But Crewdson said while it was operating, Hoda was very active in the collective process.
LIKE A BROTHER
Peter Wadsworth was thoughtful, caring and always willing to lend a hand, his friend Tammy Tasoff said.
Tasoff, 29, said Wadsworth looked out for her, doing little things that made her life easier. He would organize her messy files, give her advice and fix her computer if she needed help, said Tasoff, a dental student.
He bought video games because he knew she loved them, and he would often watch her play, she said.
"Usually he'd say, 'Let's play video games,' and then he'd say, 'No, I just want to watch you play,'" she said, sobbing. "He'd make me food. He took really good care of me. He was like my big brother."
OTHER VICTIMS
The city of Oakland identified some of the other people killed were David Cline, 35, Travis Hough, 35, and Donna Kellogg, 32, all of Oakland; and Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, of Hayward.
Officials said they have identified an eighth victim but are withholding the name because the person was 17 years old.
One of the people killed was the son of a local deputy, Kelly said at a news conference Sunday. He did not release the name.
Kellogg's father said he was not ready to comment further on his daughter's death.
Many friends and family members were still anxiously awaiting word of their missing loved ones as the laborious search for remains continued Monday. Some gathered outside a sheriff's office for news.
LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP
Among the missing are Alex Ghassan and his fiancée, Hanna Henrikka Ruax.
Ghassan is a director and producer who worked with Spike Lee and Talib Kweli. He also is the father of twin toddlers.
Ruax is a yoga instructor, entrepreneur and activist visiting from Helsinki, Finland. She arrived in Oakland in late November.
The pair had been dating long-distance, and Ghassan was preparing to move to Europe, said his roommate Vikram Babu. "He was fed up with the U.S.," Babu said.
Ghassan previously lived in Orange, New Jersey. He has lived in Oakland on and off for about a year, Babu said.
Ghassan's mother, Emilie Grandchamps, told WABC-TV, that Ghassan often went out of his way to help other artists.
Before the fire, Ghassan posted video of the warehouse party on Instagram. "Oakland reminds me of #JerseyCity so much at times," he wrote.
Ruax, meanwhile, is a social justice activist who organized a large protest in Finland after a neo-Nazi rally in that European country, Babu said. "She is very gentle," he said.
Ruax's Instagram account is filled with playful photos of her and Ghassan. Last week, she posted a selfie with Ghassan where both made funny faces into the camera.
"Sent this pic to my mumz after arriving home to my boo," she wrote. "Home sweet home!"
PHOTOGRAPHER WHO LOVED MUSIC
Friends and family were holding out hope that photographer Amanda Allen, 34, would be found safe.
The Chelmsford, Massachusetts, native is a dancer with a passion for music, loved ones told The Lowell Sun.
"We are all praying for a miracle and coming together as a family," said her mother, Linda Smith Regan.
Allen's husband, Andy Kershaw, a DJ, called her vibrant and magnetic.
Allen graduated from Bridgewater State University in 2004. She and Kershaw moved to San Francisco from Boston in 2008.
Chelmsford native Shannon Fisher said Allen took ballet as a child and later embraced "that underground musical life." Fisher described Allen as smart and funny, with a laugh that comes easily.
A photography website belonging to Allen says she shoots portraits and events.
A BEAUTIFUL SOUL
Kershaw said his friend and fellow DJ Johnny Igaz also was unaccounted for.
Igaz reportedly was playing a set when the fire broke out. He was listed on Facebook as a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music in San Francisco.
His Facebook page was littered with tearful posts from friends who called him a beautiful soul and a true friend.
HER TRUE SELF
Riley Fritz, 29, a musician and artist from Connecticut, recently moved to San Francisco to be with friends, according to her brother, Ben Fritz.
"She was a kind and beautiful person who had the strength to be her true self even when she knew that was not an easy path," Ben Fritz, 39, told The Associated Press. He said she appeared to be the "happiest she had been in a few years."
Ben Fritz said the family was notified Sunday night that Riley, also known as Feral Pines, likely was killed in the fire.
Their father, Bruce Fritz, told the San Francisco Chronicle he was flying to Oakland on Monday to identify Riley's body. He said he would be joined by Ben Fritz, who lives in Los Angeles.
Riley Fritz graduated from Staples High School in Westport in 2005 and the School for the Visual Arts in Manhattan in 2010. She lived in several places before moving to the Bay Area, according to her family.
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Associated Press writers Janie Har in Oakland, Russell Contreras in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
