4 killed in Pang Warehouse blaze remembered

4 killed in Pang Warehouse blaze remembered

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Story Published: Jan 6, 2009 at 12:19 AM PDT

Story Updated: Jan 6, 2009 at 12:19 AM PDT

By KOMO Staff

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SEATTLE -- Fourteen years ago on Jan. 5, four firefighters died while battling an unpredictable blaze.

In 1995, a group of firefighters ran into Mary Pang's Food Products plant in South Seattle. The men, who were brave enough to run into an inferno, never expected the floor to give way and drop them into the burning basement below.

Pang's son, Martin Pang, later confessed to setting the fire in an attempt to collect insurance money. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

More than a decade after the blaze, dozens gathered at the Holy Family Parish School in West Seattle on Monday evening to share a meal and remember the men whose deaths prompted the fire department to improve its safety regulations.

The crowd was determined to keep alive the memories of Lt. Walter Kilgore, Lt. Gregory Shoemaker and firefighters James Brown and Randall Terlicker, who attended Holy Family.

A moment of pride and sadness swept through the room as people gathered in a candlelit room to remember their fallen heroes.

"All of us who knew them carry a part of them with us," said Seattle firefighter Dave Churchill.

Colleen Terlicker couldn't thank people enough for honoring her son, Randy, and his colleagues who died with him.

"He was always helping somebody, and I was amazed at the amount of lives he touched when he was alive," she said. "He helped so many people before he died, and this continues this legacy of helping. He inspired so many people and helped so many people and I want it to continue in his name."

Some of the proceeds collected at Monday's event will be used to fund the school's scholarships set up in Terlicker's honor.

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