Seattle arsonist Martin Pang to be released from prison in September

May 25--Martin Pang, who set a warehouse fire that killed four Seattle firefighters in 1995, will likely be released from prison on Sept. 27, the state Department of Corrections said Friday morning.

Pang, 62, was convicted of setting a fire in his parents' Chinatown International District warehouse on Jan. 5, 1995. Lt. Walter Kilgore, 45; Lt. Gregory Shoemaker, 43; and firefighters Randall Terlicker, 35, and James Brown, 25, died when the floor inside the frozen-food warehouse collapsed.

The blaze was set, according to prosecutors, so Pang could collect insurance money on the warehouse.

Pang, a failed businessman and struggling actor, fled to Brazil after the fire. Officials in Brazil refused to extradite Pang to face four first-degree murder charges for the arson deaths because the same crime in that country could not be charged as murder.

After a three-year legal battle, Pang was returned to the U.S. in 1998 after prosecutors here agreed to charge him with four counts of first-degree manslaughter. Pang pleaded guilty to the charges that year and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The Department of Corrections said Friday that Pang had earned an early release date of Sept. 27, but also said that the date was not set and was instead the earliest estimated day for his release.

Responding to the news of Pang's upcoming release, the Seattle Fire Department issued an emailed statement Friday afternoon, commending "the ultimate sacrifice" of the firefighters and saying the day in 1995 is one the agency will never forget.

"These brave men died protecting the community they served," the statement said. "The mission of the Seattle Fire Department is carried out every day in their memory."

While behind bars, Pang also became the focus of a Seattle police investigation.

Authorities said he was positioning himself for an after-prison "life of luxury" through two schemes -- one to steal the identities of witnesses against him, and a second to siphon millions of dollars from the Tulalip Resort Casino.

Seattle police, in 2013, said that Pang engineered an elaborate identity-fraud scheme with an alleged accomplice on the outside, looking to steal the identities of firefighters, police officers and witnesses who played a role in his criminal case. Pang, police said, planned to use the money upon his release to flee to Brazil and live in luxury.

Police said Pang had birthdates and Social Security numbers of fire and police personnel from training records that were included in discovery materials turned over by prosecutors as part of the manslaughter case. State law has since changed, allowing agencies to redact Social Security numbers from such records.

KING-TV reported that Pang lost 76 days of "good time" credit and wound up in a harsher prison environment as a result of the investigation.

Last year, the state Court of Appeals ruled that Pang would have to pay nearly $3 million in restitution and other legal costs when he's released from prison.

The Seattle Fire Department, which was hit with lawsuits from the firefighters' families and state fines for safety violations, made major changes to its policies and procedures after the deaths.

Crews at the Pang fire lacked critical information, such as the layout of the building and the fact that it had been the subject of arson threats. Now, fire crews are often equipped with building plans and are warned of potential dangers, such as arson threats or the presence of explosive chemicals.

Seattle Times staff reporter Jessica Lee contributed to this report.

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