Seattle Line of Duty Death
January 5th 1995 - Seattle, WA. The Pang Warehouse Fire Kills Four Firefighters
• Lt. Gregory M. Shoemaker, age 43
• Lt. Walter D. Kilgore, age 45
• James T. Brown, age 25
• Randall R. Terlicker, age 35
At 7:02 p.m. on Jan. 5, 1995, firefighters were called to the Mary Pang Frozen Chinese Food plant at South Dearborn Street and Seventh Avenue South.
More than 100 firefighters battled the five-alarm blaze, and smoke could be seen from Bellevue and Mercer Island – where owners Harry and Mary Pang learned of the fire on KIRO/7.
The four firefighters died in the basement of the three-story concrete and wood structure after the first floor collapsed and dropped them 20 feet. Five other firefighters were injured.
Three – Kilgore, Brown and Terlicker – died of asphyxiation after their air tanks emptied. Shoemaker, who lost his helmet and oxygen mask in the fall from the first floor, died of smoke inhalation.
It took three days before the bodies of the fallen firefighters were recovered.
Fire companies that responded to the Pang warehouse fire did not know that the building had been the target of arson threats, although Fire Department officials did. Those responding to the Pang fire also did not have a building plan and didn’t know of the basement.
Today, department policies require crews responding to a fire be alerted to arson threats and any other potential hazards. Crews routinely conduct building inspections and building plans are kept on a computer database.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents joined the arson investigation the night of the fire, and investigators learned that Martin Pang, son of the building’s owner, set the fire.
Pang, who expected his parents to give him part of the insurance money after the fire, had talked to his ex-wife about burning the warehouse. After setting the blaze, he flew to Mexico and tried to act stunned when hearing about the fire the next morning.
As pressure mounted, Pang went on the run. He sent a video to a Seattle TV station during the manhunt proclaiming his innocence. He fled to Brazil, where he could not be extradited for a charge of murder.
He returned to Seattle in 1998 after years of legal fights and pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter.
As part of Pang’s plea deal, he agreed to serve each sentence of 8.75 years consecutively. He agreed to the deal, his attorney said, to avoid the possibility of a life sentence from an arson conviction.
After the Pang warehouse fire, the Seattle Fire Department agreed to augment a safety officer position and create a safety division. In return, the state Department of Labor and Industries reduced a $25,000 fine it had levied after finding fire officials had interfered with a safety officer.
Four years after the blaze, a jury awarded $5.6 million in damages from the City of Seattle to the widow of James Brown – record damages at the time. The families of the other three firefighters killed settled claims ranging from $450,000 to $3.5 million.
Before Brown’s trial, the Fire Department acknowledged communication breakdowns led to the firefighters’ death.
Jurors assigned 75 percent of the blame in the firefighters death to the Seattle Fire Department. Pang was deemed 25 percent responsible.
Though he was broke, Pang was ordered to pay $5.4 million to the widow of Greg Shoemaker as the result of a civil case. Pang’s ex-wife took a portion of the reward money for his arrest and conviction. He remains at the Monroe Correctional Complex. The former warehouse site is a parking lot.
The Dance - Seattle Firefighter Memorial
https://youtu.be/A5JPnuz4H-o
Four Seattle firefighters die in arson blaze at Mary Pang's frozen-fo
When Martin Pang sets fire to his parents' Chinese frozen-food warehouse on the night of January 5, 1995, the blaze kills four Seattle Fire Department firefighters, the worst loss of life in SFD hist
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