Blick gets 3 life terms for setting fatal fire

A former firefighter trainee who drank alcohol and then set a fire that killed a West Mifflin family was sentenced Friday to three concurrent life terms without the chance of parole.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning told William Blick, 25, of Whitaker, that he believes a combination of 'alcohol abuse and stupidity resulted in the grossly reckless act' that killed James Rock, 28, his wife, Diane, 39, and their 11-month-old daughter, Caitlyn, on July 1.

The victims' families spoke of their loss.

'He deserves to live the rest of his life behind bars and think of all that he has done and all the lives he has ruined,' said Darlene Rigby of South Park, Diane Rock's sister.

'He should ... think about the terror and fear our sister and her husband felt knowing that they tried to get themselves and their daughter out of that burning building.'

Blick, who was a firefighter trainee with the Homeville Volunteer Fire Company at the time of the fire, showed no emotion during yesterday's proceedings.

His new attorneys, Robert Stewart and Charles LoPresti, advised him not to speak before the judge imposed the mandatory life terms. The attorneys said they plan an appeal.

A jury convicted Blick in February on three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of arson, and for recklessly endangering volunteer firefighter Harry Peterman, who collapsed from heat exhaustion while battling the fire.

As he was being led away by sheriff's deputies, Blick's mother wept and called out to Manning.

'Your honor, may I please hold my son?' Shelley Blick said. She was not permitted to hug him.

Prior to the sentencing, James Rock's father, Terry Rock of West Mifflin, told Manning that Blick 'took a lot from me,' including the opportunity to see his granddaughter grow.

'What I want to know is why,' said Rock, who later said he wanted Blick to 'give me some explanation, some peace of mind.'

Outside the courtroom, Rock said he didn't believe the fire was the result of alcohol and stupidity, as Manning said.

'I think he did it on purpose. He had some grudge against my son. What it was, I don't know,' Rock said.

Rigby told the judge that her sister and husband 'didn't have much in the way of material things, but they were truly happy.'

'On the day prior to their deaths, my sister and her husband were out shopping with excitement to prepare for their daughter's first birthday party and for the members of their families to share the joy with them. That dream was not to be.'

Rigby, who wrote a letter with another sister, Lori Jackson, said Blick also should think 'about the scars he left on his fellow firefighters for having to remove their bodies, especially Caitlyn from her crib still holding her rattle ...'

Manning said he didn't believe Blick was aware the Rocks were living in the other half of the duplex next to where Adam Hood, another volunteer firefighter, had been living.

The judge said he didn't think Blick intended to kill anyone, but his actions resulted in the 'horrendous consequences that brings us here.'

At the trial, the jury listened to Blick's tape-recorded statement to Allegheny County police homicide detectives.

Blick, who had been drinking at the social hall of the Homeville Volunteer Fire Company, said he stopped at the duplex to find out when Hood wanted him to return an ax he had borrowed.

After finding no one at the home on Greensprings Avenue, Blick admitted he flicked a cigarette toward the porch as he walked away, saying that if that started the fire, it was accidental.

Assistant District Attorney Marc Clark said Blick may have given a motive for the fire when he said in a taped statement, without being asked, that he didn't set the fire to watch it or to fight it.

Stewart and LoPresti said they will file an appeal on the grounds that Blick's trial attorney provided ineffective representation by failing to call character witnesses on his behalf.

Stewart also said the trial attorney should have objected to a filmed demonstration by the Allegheny County Fire Marshal's office of how the fire started, because the outdoor carpeting used in the model wasn't the same as the material on the Rock porch.

Manning imposed no sentence on two arson counts because they merged with the second-degree homicide convictions, which involves a death that occurred during the commission of a felony, in this case arson.

He imposed a concurrent one to two years in prison for recklessly endangering another firefighter.

Robert Baird can be reached at (412) 391-8650.