Tapes Shed No Light On How Deadly Fire Started Frantic Change Of Pace Heard On Radio Transcripts

“Division C to Charles Street Command. We need to abandon building,” barks Battalion Chief Jim Morton as the floor of the burning Pang warehouse begins to collapse.

In tapes of the Fire Department’s radio dispatches the night of the deadly Jan. 5 blaze, Morton’s call signals a frantic change of pace at what had until then been considered a routine fire.

“Charles Street Command, all units abandon building,” acting Incident Commander Kem Hunter replies. “We are converting to a defensive operation.”

“We want abandon building order, abandon building,” Morton repeats.

Reports of firefighters trapped inside and the activation of radio emergency signals came next, according to transcripts of the tapes from the Jan. 5 fire publicly released Thursday.

The transcripts don’t shed any new light on how the blaze started.

Martin Pang, 39, is charged with arson and four counts of first-degree murder in the fire that killed four firefighters and destroyed his parents’ foodproducts warehouse.

Pang has been in a Brazilian jail since March and prosecutors are seeking his extradition.

The first sign that someone is in trouble is a report of an emergency radio signal from Engine 13, a crew inside the building. Two firefighters from that crew, Lt. Greg Shoemaker and firefighter Randy Terlicker, were killed in the blaze.

Then a name is mentioned.

“Safety to Command,” Acting Safety Chief Stuart Rose says. “We have one firefighter in the building, Jim Brown, unaccounted for.”

Brown of Ladder 7 and Lt. Walter Kilgore of Engine 10 also died inside the inferno.

When it was clear firefighters were missing, Assistant Chief Dave Campbell took command.

“We got a report of firefighters trapped in the building. We’ve initiated a rescue,” Campbell radios to the Charles Street command post.

“The rescue group has attempted entry at two locations,” the command post is subsequently told by radio. “They’re unable to penetrate. They say it’s possible with a hood on they could get in, but it’s much too hot to go in there without any more protection than they have.”

Recovery of the bodies of the four firefighters killed did not begin until the following day.