Fire Started By Candle Leaves 8 Families Homeless
Spring Valley, NY, July 9, 1998 – Eight families were left homeless after an accidental fire apparently started due to a candle. The early-morning fire was controlled, but heavy damage had already occurred on the upper floors and in the attic.

Helicopter Crew Killed In Crash
An air tanker crashed and burned, killing both crew members while fighting a 400-acre fire known as the "Leggett Fire" in the Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico on June 27, 1998. According to reports, the aircraft had dumped part of its load of chemical retardant and was banking around to drop the rest of the load when it suddenly nose-dived. Authorities identified the pilot of the two-engine aircraft as J.D. Donahue of Mesa, AZ. The co-pilot was identified as Chuck Key. Both were employees of N eptune Aviation, based in Missoula, MT, under contract to the United States Forest Service. The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the cause of the crash.
– Jay K. Bradish

Fatal Fire Linked To Propane Line
The Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office has reported that an improperly protected propane line was partially to blame for the fire and explosion that killed two volunteer firefighters on April 9, 1998. Officials stated that a fence or other barriers as requi red by fire codes didn't protect the line. Individuals operating four-wheelers reportedly broke the line allowing the propane gas to escape and ignite. Firefighters Tom Archer and Larry Walsh of the Albert City Volunteer Fire Department died when the 10,0 00-gallon propane tank exploded.

Ohio Man Held In Fatal Arson
A Perry County, OH, man has been ruled competent to stand trial for an arson fire that proved fatal to Firefighter Kathy Mayfield, 47, of the Crooksville, OH, Volunteer Fire Department died. Mayfield went into cardiac arrest on returning to the fire stati on after battling a mutual aid fire at a tire shop in New Lexington on Oct. 25, 1997. Frederick Hogue, 22, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and aggravated arson in connection with the death. He is also charged in a series of unrelated arsons, burg laries and theft of a firearm. The trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 14.

3 Die In Helicopter Explosion
Three crew members aboard a helicopter in California died on July 18, 1998, when it apparently exploded in mid-air while returning from Florida, where it had been fighting brushfires. The crash occurred near Twentynine Palms, CA, about 120 miles southeast of Los Angeles. A three-acre brushfire was ignited by the crash.

Lightning Injures 6 Firefighters
Six Pinellas County, FL, firefighters were injured by a lightning strike during a severe thunderstorm on June 23, 1998, shortly after 10 P.M. as they were picking up equipment at the scene of a house fire at 842 17th Avenue S. Lieutenant Steve Hay was fou nd lying face down in the street with his clothes smoking. Firefighters Kevin McConn, Robert Bassett, Dean Saathoff, Tom Inglis and Bob Field also were injured. The firefighters were transported to Bayfront Medical Center and Hay was later transferred to the burn unit at Tampa General Hospital. Hay suffered second-degree burns on his arm and feet. Saathoff and Inglis were treated and released. Hay, McConn and Bassett were released the following day. Field was held longer for observation.

Connecticut Firefighters Battle Arson Blazes In Vacant Structures
Bridgeport CT, July 30, 1997 – A series of arson fires in vacant structures ripped through Bridgeport. A fire in a vacant building on Benham Avenue spread to the second and third floors of exposure B. Then, other city firefighters were dispatched to another fire – also deliberately set – in a vacant three-story dwelling. It took seven engines, two trucks and the rescue company to control that blaze in two hours.

Medical Helicopter Crash Kills 3 In Texas
An air ambulance helicopter crashed enroute to a call on June 5, 1998, killing the three crew members aboard. The crew was responding to an accident on Highway 755 about 50 miles north of Harlingen, TX, involving an overturned tractor-trailer carrying haz ardous materials. Pilot Anthony Martinez, 46, Senior Flight Nurse/Paramedic Brenda Leinweber, 46, and Flight Nurse/Paramedic Carlos De La Fuente, 34, were found in the wreckage the following day 20 miles from the scene of the truck accident. The pilot had reported landing information to Valley Baptist Medical Center five minutes before crashing. Eight minutes later, ground controllers tried to confirm that the chopper had landed. An intense air and ground search was initiated, but searchers were hampered by rugged terrain, thick brush and hazy skies. Valley AirCare, based in Harlingen, is the pri mary air ambulance service in Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Kenedy, Starr and Willacy counties.
– Jay K. Bradish

Former Calif. Fire Captain Convicted of Arson-Murder
John Orr, 49, a former Glendale, CA, Fire Department captain and arson investigator, was convicted of four counts of murder and twenty counts of arson on June 26, 1998, involving fires dating back to 1984. A Superior Count jury deliberated two weeks befor e handing down the verdict. The murder charges are in connection with the 1984 fire at Ole's Home Center in South Pasadena, in which two store employees and two customers died. The jury also found him guilty of the special circumstance of multiple murder that allows the death penalty to be sentenced. Prosecutors said he placed an incendiary device in a display filled with polyurethane foam and left the store. Orr's lawyers claimed that the fire was accidental, caused by an electrical malfunction in the at tic. The sentencing had not been determined at press time. Orr was also convicted of a series of brush and house fires that occurred in 1990 and 1991. One fire destroyed 67 homes and caused over $50 million in damage in Glendale. Orr himself, conducted the initial investigation. A 25th charge of arson involving t he fire at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank that destroyed the "Waltons" set was dropped. Orr is currently serving a 30-year prison term for arson involving fires he set in 1987. While returning from an arson conference, he set three fires at fabric and hardware stores in San Joaquin Valley and was convicted in a 1992 federal trial in Fresno. In 1993, he pleaded guilty to three other fires, two that occurred while he was attending another conference.
– Jay K. Bradish