Fire in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse in 1999

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The fire in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse occurred on December 3, 1999 in an empty cold storage facility in Worcester , Massachusetts , USA, and resulted in the deaths of six firefighters who were lost on the windowless floors. According to records from the National Fire Protection Association , this was the most casualty loss of firefighters in a building fire in which neither a structural collapse nor an explosion contributed to the fatalities.

building

The Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Company's structure was built in 1906 and expanded in 1912, and encompassed an entire city block on Franklin Street, near Union Station and adjacent to Interstate 290, five blocks east of the city's central business district. It had a cellar, six floors above ground, two staircases, one of which ended on the third floor, and four elevator shafts for all levels and was used to store beef that was delivered in refrigerated cars from Chicago . Windows were only on the first floor and in an office area on the northeast corner of the second floor. The approximate external height was 24 meters, the floors were between 650 m² and 743 m² in size. The storage rooms were arranged like a labyrinth and connected to one another.

The building consisted of 45 cm thick brick walls for insulation. The inner walls were covered with layers of cork impregnated with tar , polystyrene foam, and polyurethane . These insulating layers were also up to 45 cm thick. The building was sold in 1983 and again in 1987, before it was abandoned in 1989 and subsequently used frequently by the homeless. The building had neither fire alarm and extinguishing systems, nor fire walls or fire doors.

Course of the fire

The fire was started by carelessness of two homeless people on December 3, 1999 between 4:30 and 5:45 p.m. on the second floor and was only discovered around 6:13 p.m. The firefighters located the fire in the former office area on the second floor and noticed only slight smoke development in the storage area. An elevator shaft cover was removed from the roof to allow smoke and hot gases to escape.

Since the emergency services were informed by a witness about the possibility of people being present in the building, a search was started. While one team started searching the floors up from the first floor, another team started searching the building from the roof down. These teams reported fire noises but could not see any flames. Conditions deteriorated quickly as the smoke spread over the stairwells and elevator shafts and became thicker. The fire itself could not be extinguished despite the use of several water hoses and was intensified by the numerous insulating materials.

From 6:46 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., there were repeated calls for help over the radio that firefighters had lost their orientation and were running out of breath, which was limited to around 30 minutes. Inconsistent information about their whereabouts and a complete ignorance of the emergency teams about the layout of the building aggravated the situation. In search of the firefighters, another rescue team on the fifth floor lost their bearings. Further searches through the staircases had to be stopped due to the heat and smoke.

The evacuation was initiated at 7:58 p.m. as a building collapse could no longer be ruled out. The external attack was sustained for the next 20 hours, with the upper four floors collapsing during this course. The recovery of the victims began on the morning of December 5th and lasted six and a half days. The mission ended on December 11th at 10:27 p.m. At the time of the tragedy, 73 firefighters were on duty at the cold store due to a five-alarm .

The six casualties had died from inhaling smoke, soot and hot gases and were the first firefighters in the city to be killed on duty in 36 years. After the fire investigations were completed, the cold store was demolished.

Effects

A firefighters memorial service and procession was held in Worcester on December 9, 1999. The service was broadcast on several national news networks and attended by President Bill Clinton , Vice President Al Gore , Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator John Kerry .

The tragedy led to new fire protection regulations for vacant buildings in Worcester, and new guidelines for procedures in smoky buildings, such as the use of guide ropes and marking lines, or floodlights on entrance portals, became mandatory.

In July 2000 the book 3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It by Sean Flynn was published. The Franklin Street fire station , which was officially opened in November 2008, stands at the site of the fire . There is also a memorial for the victims, which was designed by artist Brian P. Hanlon and unveiled in December 2008.

One of the firefighters who died, Jerry Lucey, was a cousin of comedian and actor Denis Leary . In the spring of 2000 he founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation , which holds charity events every year. The proceeds will benefit central Massachusetts fire departments and families of firefighters who have been killed or injured in action.

A film adaptation of the drama by Warner Bros. Entertainment failed in 2004 due to protests by firefighters across North America, who feared that the film would inflict emotional wounds on the families of the dead firefighters. Filming should have started on May 10, 2004 in Toronto , with Ed Harris and Woody Harrelson scheduled for the lead roles . However, the event was loosely taken over, with changed characters and locations, but visual parallels, in the 2004 film Im Feuer . There Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta play the leading roles.

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