Firefighter’s Widow Files Lawsuit

The widow of one of four firefighters killed in a 1995 warehouse blaze contends in a $10.5 million claim that the Seattle Fire Department’s negligence led to the deaths.

Christina Brown, the wife of firefighter James Brown, filed the claim against the city on Monday.

The claim says her husband’s death was a “direct and proximate result” of the fire department’s negligence in responding to the Jan. 5, 1995, fire at the Mary Pang Food Products warehouse in the city’s International District.

The four firefighters were on the main floor of the building when the floor beneath them collapsed and they fell into the basement, where they died.

The state Department of Labor and Industries fined the Fire Department $41,000 for workplace and safety violations relating to the warehouse fire. One violation was the department’s failure to tell firefighters that the building had been the target of an arson threat.

Brown filed a lawsuit in January seeking unspecified damages from Mary Pang Food Products and the man accused of setting the fire, Martin Pang, son of the warehouse owners.

Martin Pang also faces a criminal charge of arson.

John Connelly Jr., a Tacoma lawyer representing Brown, said filing the claim with the city begins a process that ultimately could see the department added as a defendant in the civil lawsuit.