Coos Bay LODD's-Criminally Negligent Homicide Charges

[NJFFSA16]

News just coming out...1-27-03

Indictments handed down in Coos Bay fatal fire

(Coos Bay-AP) -- The Coos County Grand Jury has indicted the
owner of a machine shop at an auto supply company warehouse that
caught fire and claimed the lives of three Coos Bay firefighters.
Automotive Machine Service owner Jonathan Edward Inskeep and a
second man, contractor Verlin Glen Villines, were both arraigned
today on three counts of criminally negligent homicide. Both face
up to 15 years in prison and are set to return to court on March
third.
Coos Bay Fire Lieutenant Randall Carpenter and volunteer
firefighters Jeffery Common and R. Chuck Hanners were killed in the
November 25th fire in the FarWest Auto and Truck Supply.
The State Fire Marshal's Office says the fire started in the
chimney of an oven used to burn off grease from parts in a machine
shop. The city building inspector's report found that the oven was
installed without proper inspections or permits.
According to the Coos County District Attorney's office,
Villines helped Inskeep install the oven.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - A grand jury has indicted two men for
their roles in the fire that killed three Coos Bay firefighters
last year.
Jonathan Edward Inskeep, 58, and Verlin Glen Villines, 61, were
each charged with three counts of criminally negligent homicide.
They both face a maximum of 15 years in prison, Coos County
District Attorney Paul Burgett said in a statement released Monday.
The men were arraigned Monday and released. They return to court
March 3 and could not be reached for comment late Monday.
Coos Bay Fire Department Lt. Randall Carpenter, 46, and
volunteer firefighters Jeffery Common, 30, and R. Chuck Hanners,
33, were killed fighting the explosive fire Nov. 25 at FarWest Auto
and Truck Supply.
Their deaths were the worst loss of structural firefighters in a
single fire in Oregon history.
The State Fire Marshal's Office traced the cause of the fire to
heat from the chimney of an oven used to burn off grease from parts
in a machine shop operated by Inskeep. Villines, a contractor,
helped install the oven.
The fire burned unseen for hours, weakening the roof that
collapsed on firefighters soon after they entered the building.
The city building inspector's report on the fire found that the
oven was installed without proper inspections or permits. It said
the chimney extended into the attic, but did not extend through the
roof the required two feet above the building.
"People need to take these codes seriously because terrible
things can happen as they did in this case," Burgett said.
The indictments were returned Friday, following investigations
by state and local police and the State Fire Marshal's Office.
Kim Macfee, the owner of FarWest Auto and Truck Supply, which
housed the machine shop, declined comment. Coos Bay firefighters
reached late Monday also declined comment.


(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Can somebody from Oregon send me a citation for the statute these guys were charged under? I wish we had this in NJ.

[NJFFSA16]

COQUILLE, Ore. (AP) - Two men pleaded innocent Monday to
criminally negligent homicide charges alleging they ignored
building codes for installing a car parts cleaning oven that
ignited a fire that killed three Coos Bay firefighters last fall.
Coos County Circuit Judge Martin Stone set Dec. 1 as the trial
date for Jonathan E. Inskeep, 58, and Verlin G. Villines, 61. The
trial is expected to last two weeks.
Coos Bay Fire Department Lt. Randall Carpenter, 46, and
volunteer firefighters Jeffery Common, 30, and R. Chuck Hanners,
33, were killed Nov. 25 when the roof collapsed on them while
fighting a fire at FarWest Auto and Truck Supply.
The State Fire Marshal's Office traced the cause of the fire to
heat from the chimney of an oven used to burn grease from parts in
a machine shop operated by Inskeep. Villines, a contractor, helped
install the oven.
The fire burned unseen for hours, weakening the roof, which
collapsed on the firefighters soon after they entered the building.
The city building inspector's report on the fire found that the
oven was installed without proper inspections or permits. It said
the chimney extended into the attic, but did not extend through the
roof the required two feet above the building.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[mcleoud151]

Did anyone ever send u the statute? If not let me know and I'll dig it up for ya!

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

If you could forward it, I'd appreciate it.

[NJFFSA16]

3 firefighters sacrificed their lives at this fire.....:mad:


COQUILLE, Ore. (AP) - Two men who pleaded no contest to charges
following a fire that killed three Coos Bay firefighters were
sentenced to four months in jail Monday.
Jonathan Edward Inskeep, 58, owned an auto supply store where
the fire started. Verlin Glen Villines, 61, installed an oven that
was the cause of the Nov. 25 fire without a permit.
The pair pleaded to three counts each of the misdemeanor charges
after Coos County prosecutors agreed to drop felony charges of
criminally negligent homicide.
A plea of no contest means the defendants do not admit or deny
the charges, but that they do not wish to contest the case. It also
means the defendants agree that the state could prove its case
against them beyond a reasonable doubt.
Lt. Randall Carpenter, 46, and volunteer firefighters Jeffery
Common, 30, and R. Chuck Hanners, 33, died after the roof
collapsed.
Investigators said the fire had smoldered undetected for hours
in the walls and ceiling of the structure.
Inskeep and Villines could have received up to a year in jail
and fines of $5,000.
District Attorney Paul Burgett said families of the three were
divided over whether they thought the two should receive jail time.
"They can be sorry and I'm sure that they are, but they have no
idea of what we're going through," Michelle Carpenter, Randall
Carpenter's sister, told KOIN-TV, the CBS affiliate in Portland.
The city was fined $41,350 by the state Occupational Health and
Safety Division but was allowed to use $33,000 of that to buy new
safety equipment over the next two years.
Investigators said they found 16 violations of federal standards
but that those did not cause the deaths.
The three victims were among 99 firefighters nationwide to die
in the line of duty in 2002.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - The family of one of the three
firefighters who died battling a 2002 blaze in downtown Coos Bay
has donated $20,000 to an effort to build a memorial in their
honor.
The donation, from the family of deceased firefighter Randy
Carpenter, is a big step toward the estimated cost of a $100,000
memorial for the three men.
"It will get us off the ground as far as getting the artistry
and the statues done," said firefighter Mike Seldon, of the Coos
Bay Firefighters Memorial Committee. "The preliminary stuff on the
statue will be done with that money."
The committee is planning on using the Internet to sell the
bricks that will be used to build the memorial, each one inscribed
with the name of the donor.
Besides the 46-year-old Carpenter, the memorial will honor
firefighters R. Chuck Hanners, 33 and Jeff E. Common, 30. The men
were killed battling a fire at the Farwest Truck & Auto Supply
store in downtown Coos Bay on Nov. 25, 2002.
Preliminary plans for the memorial call for it to incorporate 11
trees, one for each of the children left behind by the three men,
located around a portion of a Maltese cross. The design also
includes the flagpole from the Farwest Truck & Auto Supply store.
Seldon said the committee hopes to have the memorial completed
by the fourth anniversary of the fire in 2006.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[FlyingRon]

I'm not from Oregon, but most states have their statues on line (Oregon is no exception):

163.145 Criminally negligent homicide. (1) A person commits the crime of criminally negligent homicide when, with criminal negligence, the person causes the death of another person.

(2) Criminally negligent homicide is a Class B felony. [1971 c.743 §91; 2003 c.815 §2]