By Adam Bass
masslive.com
WORCESTER, Mass. — Worcester will commemorate this week 26 years since the Cold Storage Warehouse fire, a five-alarm blaze that took the lives of six firefighters.
The city will hold a five-minute ceremony at the Franklin Street Fire Station on 266 Franklin St., the former site of the warehouse.
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The ceremony will start at 6 p.m., last five minutes and will feature a wreath-laying, a prayer and a moment of silence, according to Thomas Matthews, a spokesperson for City Manager Eric D. Batista. There will not be any speakers this year, Matthews told MassLive.
What happened at the Cold Storage Warehouse?
On the evening of Friday, Dec. 3, 1999, a shoving match between two unhoused people occupying the building caused a candle to fall onto a pile of clothing, according to a U.S. Fire Administration technical report.
An alarm box was struck at 6:13 p.m. and firefighters were sent to the scene of the blaze.
Members of the Worcester Fire Department were notified of the possibility of people inside the building. The Rescue 1 crew began a search but by 6:46 p.m., the team made a call reporting that they were lost inside the building.
A search began for the missing firefighters but by 7:58 p.m., an evacuation was called for all firefighters inside the warehouse.
Six firefighters were unaccounted for and were later found dead: Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. Timothy Jackson Sr., Lt. James Lyons III and firefighters Jeremiah Lucey, Paul Brotherton and Joseph McGuirk.
After the fire was extinguished, a recovery operation began. The first fallen firefighter was found on a Sunday. It took six-and-a-half days to recover the last firefighter, according to the report.
Seventy-three firefighters fought the blaze, according to a report about the fire from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The six deceased firefighters would be known as “The Worcester 6.”
| MORE: Personal reflections on the Worcester tragedy
Six Career Fire Fighters Killed in Cold-Storage and Warehouse Building Fire – Massachusetts by Lexipol_Media_Group
Last year, the city held a large ceremony at the Franklin Street Fire Station to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fire. A massive American flag was hung underneath the I-290 overpass as bagpipers, drummers, and firefighters marched to the station.
At 6:13 p.m., three sharp alarms blared as a voice spoke on a loudspeaker. “Attention all companies. Striking Box 1438. Franklin and Arctic Street for 266 Franklin St.,” the announcer said.
These words were spoken over the same alarm box that was struck in 1999.
More commemorations
The city will also hold two additional ceremonies for fallen firefighters in December, according to Matthews.
On Dec. 8, a ceremony will be held at the Franklin Street Fire Station in honor of Firefighter Jon Davies Sr, who died battling a blaze on Arlington Street in 2011.
On Dec. 9, a ceremony will be held at the Webster Square Fire Station in honor of Firefighter Christopher Roy, who died in a five-alarm fire on Lowell Street in 2018.
These commemorations will also start at 6 p.m., last five minutes and will feature a wreath-laying, prayer and moment of silence, according to Matthews.
Has the Worcester Cold Storage fire changed how your department fights fires in abandoned structures?
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