Girlfriend of Oakland fire victim watched building burn with her inside

The girlfriend of a woman who died in the Oakland warehouse inferno said that she watched, helpless, as blazes engulfed the building on Friday.

Anya Taylor decide to stay at home on Friday night while her girlfriend, Cash Askew, attended the “Ghost Ship” warehouse’s concert. As the night grew late, Taylor realized she had not heard from her 22-year-old girlfriend, but assumed she was “probably just having fun,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

When news about the fire broke online, Taylor raced to the venue, but the blaze had already torn through the building.

“I watched the building burn, and I lost the love of my life,” Taylor said.

She stood outside of the burning warehouse with other friends for four hours.

“We knew our girls were in there,” Taylor told the Washington Post. “All we could do was stand there.”

Askew, of Oakland, was one of the at least 36 victims killed in Friday’s fire. She was a transgender woman heavily involved in the local music scene as a guitarist in a group called Them are Us Two.

Taylor said the two met at a concert a year earlier where they initially bonded over music, according to the Los Angeles Times. She posted a tribute to her girlfriend on Facebook after the horrific fire.

“My love is gone. Nothing is real. All I want is her. Cash Askew, I love you,” she wrote.

There were estimated to be at least 50 people inside the warehouse when it caught fire. Authorities began to release the names of victims on Sunday night, but anticipate the death toll will climb.

“We absolutely believe that the number of fire fatalities will increase,” Oakland fire battalion chief Melinda Drayton said on Monday morning.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.