CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 17, 2013 | By Abby Sewell, Angel Jennings and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
Marcel Melanson was a hero in Compton. The fire battalion chief led teams that raced to help victims of car crashes and street violence. Three years ago, he got national exposure as a star of a BET reality TV program that followed Compton firefighters on emergency calls. "We're constantly battling the perception of the city," he told the Los Angeles Times when the show premiered. "It's constantly thought of as this bad place. " On Friday, he was back in the public eye, but under very different circumstances.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 16, 2013 | By Abby Sewell and Angel Jennings
A former Compton deputy fire chief -- who has also starred on a reality television series -- has been arrested on suspicion of arson and grand theft in connection with a fire that destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of radio equipment in late 2011. Marcel Melanson, 37, was arrested at his home Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Compton had bought the radio and communications equipment in 2010, when the city was planning to end its contract with the Sheriff's Department and reinstate the Compton Police Department.
NATIONAL
May 16, 2013 | By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times
A malfunctioning golf cart, a faulty electrical system or even arson could have led to the fire that triggered the deadly explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, but federal and state officials said Thursday that their $1-million investigation had yet to find the cause. Fourteen people died in the April 17 blast, including 12 first responders who arrived nine minutes after the fire was reported - and just eight minutes before the explosion shook the town, devastated two schools and shattered a nursing home.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 7, 2013 | By Maura Dolan
SAN FRANCISCO -- Modesto prosecutors announced they will retry a man found by a federal judge to be “actually innocent” of starting a 1997 house fire that killed a woman and her two children. A federal judge last month ordered the state to release George Souliotes, 72, who has served 16 years for a triple-murder arson, or retry him immediately. Although Modesto prosecutors said there was “ample" evidence of guilt, state prosecutors have already conceded they could not prove the Modesto house fire was deliberately set. Much of the scientific evidence used to convict the Greek immigrant has since been discredited. In a news release Monday, Stanislaus County Dist.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 7, 2013 | By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
SAN FRANCISCO - A prison inmate whose triple-murder arson conviction was overturned after he demonstrated "actual innocence" will be retried rather than released, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii ordered the state last month to release George Souliotes, 72, or retry him immediately. After finding that Souliotes had proved his innocence, the judge overturned his conviction on the grounds he had been incompetently represented by his lawyer. Souliotes has spent 16 years in prison for murder in the deaths of Michelle Jones, 31, and her two children, Daniel Jr., 8, and Amanda, 3. The three died when a fire erupted in the home the family was renting from Souliotes.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 5, 2013 | By Angel Jennings
Authorities said it could take days to determine the cause of a fire that killed five people in a limousine late Saturday as it crossed the San Mateo Bridge, southeast of San Francisco. "This is not something that gets rushed through," said CHP Officer James Evans. Five passengers died in the blaze and five people including the limo's driver escaped. The coroner's office has not released the name of the deceased, pending notification of next of kin. The surviving passengers - Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose; Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro; Nelia Arellano, 36, of Oakland; and Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda - were taken to area hospitals where they were treated for moderate burns and smoke inhalation, authorities said. The driver, Orville Brown, 46, of San Jose, was not injured in the accident. The vehicle was traveling on the San Mateo Bridge when for unknown reasons, it caught on fire, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol. KTVU-TV obtained a horrific picture that shows flames engulfing the rear of the limo.