LON SLEPICKA
Firehouse.com News
Producer Anthony Batson spent over three months working on "Heroes Under Fire" with CBS's Dan Rather and said from a personal standpoint, "This hour is really special."
The CBS television newsmagazine "48 Hours" will dedicate their entire November 2 broadcast to the Worcester Six and the fire that killed them.
"You come away with a new respect for firefighters and their families," he said. "I got a real sense of the passion a firefighter has for the job."
Batson said the hour features three of the six families who had members die in the fire and wanted to talk about the tragedy. Michele Lucey, wife of Jerry Lucey, is now a strong voice in the community promoting fire safety.
Denise Brotherton, wife of Paul Brotherton, is dealing with the loss and trying to raise six children. The two oldest boys want to be firemen and she supports them, Batson said. James Lyons and his wife, who lost their son Jay, are having difficulty bringing it all to closure according to Batson.
Rather will sit down with 15 firefighters who were at the fire that day and talk openly about their feelings. Batson said it seemed apparent many of these firefighters had never talked with anyone outside of their close circle of friends about what they thought and how they felt about the whole incident.
The story also gives a complete report on how the fire played out through the investigation and charges against two people for starting the fire. 48 Hours traveled with Worcester firefighters to 14th annual observance at the International Association of Firefighters' Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"Its emotional the whole way along," Batson said. There were some misconceptions the public had and they tried to clear them up in the production.
And there was a lot time spent just sitting around in the firehouse, waiting for calls to run and film. "All the firefighters were just terrific to work with," Batson said. "I certainly learned a lot in working this story," he said.
