On the evening of January 5, 1995, at 7:03pm the first alarm was dispatched to Mary Pang's Food Products, a one‑story, block‑long frozen food plant and warehouse at 811 7th Ave. South in Chinatown. Heavy fire was noted at the rear of the building. After firemen had exhausted much of the fire on the main floor, a fire crew entered for final extinguishing.
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| Firefighters Respond to the call. |
What was not realized was that the fire, an arson, was in the basement. The fire they had knocked down was just an extension of fames into the 1st floor. The basement fire, burning through a supporting floor beam, caused a section of the floor to drop into the basement as it rushed up into the main level. Firefighters rushed out of the nearest doors and windows to escape the heat, several of them suffered burns.
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| Twelve hours after response. |
At this point it was known that four of them had not come out. Lieutenants Walter Kilgore and Greg Shoemaker, and Firefighters James Brown and Randall Terlicker were still inside. Because the building now was too unsafe to enter, it wasn't possible to effect a rescue attempt until the flames had been driven back. Firefighter's effected control by 5am and began the search for the men. The last body found, that of Randy Terlicker, was removed shortly before 7:00 on January 8th. The loss of four members at one incident is the most ever suffered by the Seattle Fire Department. An investigation revealed that the fire was set by Martin Pang, Mary Pang's adopted son, in order to collect the insurance and to clear the property for development. Pang fled to Brazil and could not be extradited for murder. After three years of legal and diplomatic wrangling, Pang was returned to Seattle where he pleaded guilty to four counts of manslaughter.
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| Martin Pang is brought back to Seattle. |
He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Pang's ex-wife and an FBI informant shared a $36,000 reward posted for his arrest and conviction. There's a memorial dedicated to the fallen firefighter's in Occidental Park in Pioneer Square. RIP
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| Memorial at Occidental Park |
Martin's mom, Mary, died of a heart attack on March 6, 2009. Here is the building today.
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| 7th and Dearborn in Chinatown |
