Woman with local ties survives deadly Ghost Ship fire

Georgia Cronin, 25, makes it out, but friend not so lucky; death toll at 36 so far

EastBayRI.com ·

The daughter of a Warren Town Council member survived the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif., Friday night, but sadly lost a friend in the blaze that so far has claimed 36 lives.
Georgia Cronin, 25, of Albany, Calf., is the daughter of Liberty Street residents Prescott and Keri Cronin, a member of the Warren Town Council.
Georgia attend the party at the dilapidated warehouse with her boyfriend Adrian Lee and friend Nick Gomez-Hall, a 2013 Brown University graduate who was well-known in the Rhode Island music scene. While Georgia and Adrian made it out, Nick did not and since has been positively identified as one of the victims.
Georgia’s mother Keri, who has been in almost constant contact with her daughter since the tragedy, tells the story this way:
“It all happened very quickly,” she said. “They (Georgia, Adrian and Nick) got there, looked around at this sort of room with art, rugs and wood, and went upstairs to where people were hanging out. You had to go up this weird ramp to get there. It was very closed in.”
“When they got to the top they luckily were close to the only exit out of there. They smelled some really bad electrical smell, then they heard people starting to yell and scream ‘Fire! Everybody get out!’”
Adrian grabbed Georgia by the hand and pulled her toward the stairs, and both thought Nick was right behind them. As they made their way down, Georgia used the flashlight on her cell phone to try to see, but the smoke was almost instantly too thick.
“By the time they got to the bottom of the stairs the only way they knew how to get out was by following the sound of people screaming,” Ms. Cronin said. “They followed the sound.”
They looked back and did not see Nick, and after they climbed down the stairs Georgia said she only remembers two other kids making it down.
“Nobody else came out after that.”
After the fire, the two spent a considerable amount of time looking for Nick, and afterwards sat vigil waiting to hear news of him.
“Sadly he was ID’d as one of the victims,” Ms. Cronin said.
Since the tragedy, Georgia has talked extensively with her mother about the fire and what she would like to see happen going forward. She plans to come home for Christmas, but wants to keep things low key. She has also asked that people donate to funds set up for the victims of the Oakland fire — her father Prescott has posted charitable funds on his Facebook page — or to the Lakota nation, which has been fighting a controversial pipeline.
The Cronins have been in somewhat of a daze since the tragedy and Keri said she is still trying to wrap her head around the tragedy.
She said she may reach out to Warren Fire Chief Al Galinelli to talk to him about how he dealt with The Station fire in West Warwick nearly 15 years ago; Warren responders were on the scene of that blaze.
“It’s something I’ve thought a lot about,” she said. “For us it’s such a mixture of grief and relief." As for Georgia and Adrian, "they will live with this for the rest of their lives.”