By Julie Shaw
Philadelphia Inquirer
The families of two firefighters who died after being trapped in a smoky fire in a Port Richmond basement where a man had been growing marijuana have sued Motorola Inc., claiming the company’s faulty radio equipment led to the deaths.
Two civil lawsuits, filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, each seek more than $50,000 jointly or separately from Motorola, another communications company and Daniel Brough - the man who had set up the pot farm. The suits also seek a jury trial.
Philadelphia Fire Department Capt. John Taylor, 53, of Northeast Philadelphia, and firefighter Rey Rubio, 42, of North Philadelphia, both died of asphyxiation in Brough’s basement on the 3600 block of Belgrade Street while responding to an Aug. 20, 2004, fire.