By MYUNG OAK KIM
Philadelphia Daily News
A Philadelphia fire marshal’s office investigator concluded in court testimony yesterday that the fire that killed two firefighters last summer started in the upper area of a plywood closet where marijuana plants were being grown.
But the lawyer defending Port Richmond pot-grower Daniel Brough cast doubt on that assessment through photos of the charred closet.
Lt. Renald Pelszynski of the fire marshal’s office testified that he had been one of numerous investigators who worked to establish the origin and cause of the Aug. 20, 2004, fire at Brough’s Belgrade Street rowhouse.
He said investigators that included police detectives and an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms met more than 20 times to discuss the probe and that the group agreed with the lead investigator’s conclusion that the fire had started in the top of the 2-foot-by-4-foot “grow” closet in Brough’s basement.
Brough is on trial before Common Pleas Judge David N. Savitt on charges of third-degree murder, manslaughter and lesser offenses in the deaths of Engine 28 Capt. John Taylor and firefighter Rey Rubio.
Taylor, 53, of Northeast Philadelphia, and Rubio, 42, of North Philadelphia, suffocated in the basement.
Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron’s case relies on the assertion that the blaze started in the closet and that Brough is criminally liable for the deaths because he knew the rigged closet was an extreme fire hazard.
Brough’s lawyer, William Cannon, contends that the fire started in the tool closet next to the grow closet and that the deaths had been an accident.
Cannon yesterday pointed to prosecution photos from the basement that appeared to show a burn pattern that originated in the tool closet.
Cannon also pointed out that the areas with the most intense burning appear to be in the tool closet and that the plastic bags holding the marijuana plants had not been consumed in the fire.
Pelszynski indicated that factors other than burn patterns, which will be discussed later in the trial, led investigators to conclude that the fire had started in the closet.
In other testimony, Lt. Clem McLaughlin, the Fire Department’s equipment officer, said Taylor’s and Rubio’s equipment were properly working when they entered Brough’s house.
Last year, a judge threw out murder charges against Brough.
The district attorney’s office refiled the charges, and another judge agreed to allow the case to go to trial.