NFPA Journal - November/December 2019 - 31

WENTY YEARS AGO, when I was a kid
growing up in Massachusetts, my parents
would drive me to visit my grandparents
in the nearby city of Worcester. It was only
45 minutes away, but it seemed like a different world. It was an old industrial town,
an important 19th-century manufacturing hub, but it had
endured decades of decline and was filled with empty and
deteriorating buildings. I would stare out the car window at
the faded shapes as we drove through the city. A few always
got my attention, including a large brick structure that towered over the highway, the words "Worcester Cold Storage
and Warehouse Co." painted across it. The building had been
a local landmark for as long as most people could remember.
My Dad referred to it simply as "the cold storage building."
December 3, 1999, was my mom's birthday, and my dad and
I had just left my grandparents' house in our Ford Explorer to
meet her for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I was only six, but
I can still recall the smell of smoke as we drove down I-290
through the city. We finally saw the source-the cold storage
building was on fire. As we drove past, just yards away on
the highway, we could see flames erupting from the roof. The
Worcester Fire Department (WFD) was there, though, and we
assumed the situation would soon be under control. As the
evening went on, we learned otherwise.
There had been a report of two homeless people possibly
being trapped in the building, and firefighters had gone in
to look for them. The fire intensified, and two firefighters
became lost in the maze-like interior. Teams of firefighters
began a search, and four more men became lost in the rapidly
escalating fire. In the end, the fire gutted the building, and six
Worcester firefighters were missing.
One of them was Joseph McGuirk, a longtime friend of my
Dad's. They were both from Worcester, but most of their time
together had been up in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire,
where their families spent summers on the same street. They
stayed in touch as they got married and started their own
families. I was born in the summer of 1993, and the first call
my parents made was to the McGuirks, asking them to walk
up to my grandparents' house and deliver the good news.
Late on the evening of the fire, after we'd driven home from
Worcester, Dad got a call from his brother letting him know that
Joe was missing. I remember him being very shaken up-he was
always calm and in control, and I'd never seen him look so devastated. I didn't understand the magnitude of what was going
on around me, but seeing Dad so upset meant it was serious.
Twenty years later, the impact of the cold storage fire is
still being felt. On a personal level, the fire has influenced my
education, my choice of profession, and the work I currently
do. More importantly, the fire sparked nationwide efforts
that have resulted in improved firefighter safety, better
fireground operations, improved building safety, and the
development of innovative technology designed to support
those efforts. Initiatives are still being launched throughout
the fire and life safety community that can trace their origins, at least in part, to what happened that night at the old
warehouse on Franklin Street.

The cold storage building
was on fire. As we drove
past, just yards away on the
highway, we could see flames
erupting from the roof.
The fire department was
there, though, and we
assumed the situation
would soon be under control.
As the evening went on,
we learned otherwise.

NFPA.ORG/
WORCESTER
Read the complete
NIOSH report on
the Worcester cold
storage fire.

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

| 31

http://www.NFPA.ORG/WORCESTER http://www.NFPA.ORG/WORCESTER http://NFPA.ORG/JOURNAL

NFPA Journal - November/December 2019

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