New arson charges have been filed against a 38-year-old suspect accused of intentionally setting a three-alarm fire in East Houston that resulted in the death of a Houston Fire Department firefighter and injured another late Wednesday night.
The Houston Fire Department Arson Bureau announced first-degree arson charges after determining that the suspect deliberately ignited the blaze in a vacant warehouse on Polk Street near Wayside Drive shortly before 11 p.m. Fire officials reported that firefighter Marcelo “Ox” Garcia III responded to the scene, where the intensity of the fire prompted a second alarm. A mayday call was issued when a wall collapsed, fatally injuring the 42-year-old firefighter.
Another firefighter was injured in the incident but did not sustain serious injuries. Garcia, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, had served with HFD for a decade, spending the last six years at Station 23 on Lawndale Street in southeast Houston.
