Glendale Fire Department

A former Glendale fire captain, already imprisoned for arson, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new set of crimes, including the murder of four people who died in a 1984 fire he is now accused of setting. The charges against John Leonard Orr, once an acclaimed arson investigator, also include arson for the 1990 College Hills brush fire in Glendale that destroyed 67 homes.

It was shortly before lunchtime Sunday when the wind shifted and the full bouquet of a truck emptying a portable toilet at the Station fire base camp wafted by Wally Grogan. "I don't care how long I do this job, I never get used to that smell," said Grogan, moving quickly. For nearly three weeks, firefighters have battled the Station fire. The blaze, the largest in Los Angeles County history, killed two firefighters, spread over 160,000 acres and has cost at least $90 million to fight.

A grand jury in Los Angeles on Thursday indicted former Glendale Fire Capt. John L. Orr, the arson investigator who turned arsonist, on charges he murdered four people in a 1984 fire he allegedly set at a hardware store in South Pasadena. The indictment replaces other murder and arson charges filed against Orr earlier this year, eliminating the need for a lengthy preliminary hearing in Municipal Court, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael J. Cabral said.

Re " 'Stay and defend' will face scrutiny," Feb. 9 Just weeks after The Times wrote about California chiefs debating "stay and defend," possibly hundreds have died in Australia as a result of that very strategy. It is amazing to me that a few chiefs in California could forget one of the primary tenets of firefighting: Fire is unpredictable. Instead of fighting to increase fire protection and water supplies and advocating a moratorium on building in fire-prone areas, they chose to propose a "stay and defend" strategy for residents ill-prepared for it. In a way, they are lucky that Australia suffered such a catastrophe, because it probably saved that tragedy from occurring here, and it saved the California chiefs the shame of being responsible for a large loss of life.

A child and an older person died this morning in a second-story apartment fire in Glendale. Firefighters found the bodies while fighting the blaze at 1011 Western Ave., said Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman Sue Saurer. Five companies responded to the scene at 11:23 a.m. and brought the flames under control 24 minutes later, she said.

The fire that destroyed the Glendale Internal Revenue Service office, resulting in $1.5 million in damages March 3, was caused by arson, investigators said. "It was an intentional fire," Glendale Fire Department spokesman John Orr said. Sheriff's arson investigators say they have not established a link between the arson and the discovery Thursday of three pipe bombs at an IRS audit office in Culver City. The pipe bombs were dismantled by a Sheriff's Department bomb squad.

Authorities are investigating whether the on-the-job death this week of a 39-year-old man at a Glendale pest control firm is related to a chemical spill there. Patrick S. Stevenson, a Chino resident and sales manager for the firm, was found unconscious near his car in the parking lot of Orkin Exterminating Co. on Wednesday afternoon and was pronounced dead 90 minutes later at Glendale Memorial Hospital, officials said. Battalion Chief Donald R.

Glendale Fire Department officials were investigating the cause of a fire that caused $500,000 in damage to a furniture store early Saturday, authorities said. No one was injured in the blaze, which broke out about 7:20 a.m. at Swanson's Furniture Store on the 2600 block of Honolulu Avenue, spokesman Tom Magallanes said. The blaze continued for 15 minutes before firefighters extinguished it, he said. About $300,000 in damage was done to the building and about $200,000 to contents, he said.

A fire that erupted inside a men's clothing store near the center of the Glendale Galleria on Saturday night was apparently caused by hot cigarette ashes inadvertently dumped into a waste basket full of paper, officials said. Officials said it was fortunate that the blaze in The Man's Store near the clock tower of the mall broke out at 7:30 p.m. It was 30 minutes after most stores had closed for the evening and shoppers had gone home.

Byron T. Robinson Sr., who worked for the Glendale Fire Department for 27 years, has died in Laughlin, Nev. He was 74. A longtime resident of Glendale, Robinson died Monday of a heart attack, said his son, Byron R. Robinson Jr. Born in Masontown, W. Va., Robinson served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II. He came to California and joined the Glendale Fire Department in 1948, retiring in 1975 at the rank of fire engineer.

A 14-year-old boy who apparently broke his ankle Thursday afternoon while hiking with friends in a mountainous area of Glendale was found after a brief search and taken to safety by helicopter. Several fire department and law enforcement agencies, led by the Glendale Fire Department, responded to a 911 call from a group of five teenagers, including the injured boy, near Brand Park shortly after 5 p.m. Glendale Fire Capt.

A fire caused $500,000 in damage early Thursday to a two-story building at the Chevy Chase Country Club, but no one was hurt, authorities said. Flames and smoke were seen at the rear of the clubhouse in the 3000 block of East Chevy Chase Drive about 4:20 a.m. An off-duty Glendale police officer saw the blaze and notified the Glendale Fire Department. The structure was well-involved when firefighters arrived, a Glendale dispatcher said.

Twenty-two recruits of the Glendale Fire Department graduated to the position of firefighter Thursday, but before they received their badges, they engaged in a bit of drama. As a woman engulfed in flames stumbled out of a burning building, the new firefighters extinguished the blaze. Firefighters in a burning red brick tower climbed out the third-story windows and spider-crawled down a rope to safety.

Oct. 22, 1998, was a good day for fireman Bill Jensen. On Thursday he ended 29 years of service to the Glendale Fire Department with a retirement party at Fire Station 21. Friends and family drank punch, ate cake and chided themselves for ever doubting he would make it. Oct. 22, 1996, was a bad day for fireman Bill Jensen. While battling the Malibu brush fire that day, Jensen and three other firefighters were badly burned.

Defense lawyers for convicted arsonist and former Glendale Fire Capt. John Leonard Orr told jurors Wednesday not to judge their client on his previous crimes but focus instead on testimony by expert witnesses who concluded that a fatal South Pasadena hardware store blaze was the result of an electrical malfunction.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday against former Glendale fire-captain-turned-arsonist John Leonard Orr, arguing that he described in a manuscript for a novel just how he set a South Pasadena hardware store ablaze, killing three adults and a 2-year-old boy. Revisiting five weeks of evidence and testimony relating to fires that broke out from the South Bay to the San Joaquin Valley, Deputy Dist. Atty.

Fire Engineer Sean Coogan, 47, who was credited with helping save fellow firefighters during the Calabasas-Malibu blaze of 1996, died this week of a heart attack, Glendale Fire Department officials said. Coogan, a 24-year department veteran, was behind the wheel of the fire engine trapped in a firestorm while protecting homes in Corral Canyon on Oct. 22, 1996. The blaze critically injured Firefighter William Jensen, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to more than 70% of his body.

A Glendale mechanic was burned and a service station destroyed Friday when a gas tank he had removed from a car ignited, touching off a blaze that sent a towering pillar of black smoke over the city. Glendale Fire Department spokesman Chris Gray said the mechanic, Albert Sanchez, 46, apparently dropped the gas tank, breaking a shop light which caused a spark that ignited fumes in the service bay.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday against a former Glendale fire captain turned arsonist, John Leonard Orr, arguing that he described in a manuscript for a novel how he set a South Pasadena hardware store ablaze, killing three adults and a 2-year-old boy. Revisiting five weeks of evidence and testimony relating to fires that broke out from the South Bay to the San Joaquin Valley, Deputy Dist. Atty.

The murder trial of John Leonard Orr, a former Glendale fire captain turned arsonist, got underway Wednesday with defense lawyers arguing that faulty wiring--not arson--was to blame for a fire that killed four people in South Pasadena. Although acknowledging to jurors that Orr, a former arson investigator, had pleaded guilty in 1992 to federal charges stemming from a series of arson fires in Bakersfield, attorney Ed Rucker said the blaze at Ole's Home Center in 1984 was not Orr's handiwork.