Man Sentenced for the Death of Two Firefighters

By Cecilia Green

Published on November 30, 2005

A handyman, who was growing a pot farm in his basement, was convicted in the death of two firefighters. 

Daniel Brough will be sentenced to prison in the criminal law case to a term spanning between 15 months and four years for the deaths of two firefighters. The firefighters died while trying to put out a fire on August 20, 2004, caused by the marijuana farm in Brough's basement. The fire started when heat lamps, which were used to grow the marijuana in a small plywood closet, got too hot.

Firefighter, Rey Rubio, 42, became disoriented from the thick smoke and lack of oxygen as he stood in the basement trying to put out the fire. His co-worker, John Taylor, 53, went in to rescue him, but neither of them made it out. Rubio was found at the bottom of the basement stairs, pinned beneath the debris, and Taylor was found nearby.

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