DAN RATHER, host:
First alarm sounded here--Central Station in the heart of Worcester,
Massachusetts. It set off a chain of events unlike anything this city had ever
seen.
Good evening.
What happened here is a story of courage and sacrifice. And, tonight, we'll
take you behind the lines, into a world where bravery, honor and devotion--to
work and to family--are on display every day, a world where seemingly ordinary
men perform extraordinary deeds; all of it unfolding during a moment of crisis,
a flash point for an entire city. But there's also a remarkable twist of fate
that only underscores the dangers of the job and the selflessness of those who
do it--Heroes Under Fire.
(Footage of man washing fire truck; firefighter playing bagpipes with shirt
reading: Rescue; eggs frying; firefighters; breakfasts being served)
Unidentified Firefighter #1: Come on boys, come and get it.
Unidentified Firefighter #2: OK, we're going with the light, John?
JOHN: Yes, sir.
Unidentified Firefighter #3: That's all you're having?
(Footage of firefighters having breakfast)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Every day the firefighters of Worcester, Massachusetts,
come to work ready...
Unidentified Firefighter #4: You missed one.
(Footage of firefighters preparing for fire; fire truck; street)
RATHER: (Voiceover) ...to do what they've been trained to do and what they love
to do.
Captain ROBERT A. JOHNSON (Worcester, Massachusetts): We believe we have
the--ultimate tough guys.
(Footage of fire truck on street)
Capt. JOHNSON: (Voiceover) We believe that we cannot be beaten.
Unidentified Firefighter #5: All right, bro, we're going in.
(Footage of fire)
Capt. JOHNSON: (Voiceover) We believe that we're going to go in and we're going
to solve the problem and we're going to beat this building, we're going to win
and we're going to leave, just like we do every other time.
(Footage of Johnson)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Captain Robert A. Johnson...
Capt. JOHNSON: We always believe we can do the job.
(Footage of Mike McNamee)
RATHER: (Voiceover) ...and district chief, Mike McNamee...
Chief MIKE McNAMEE (District Chief; Worcester, Massachusetts): This is--this is
just--this is our job. This is what we do.
(Footage of McNamee)
RATHER: (Voiceover) ...had never seen a building beat any of their men.
Chief McNAMEE: That--that looks alive on the left.
OK.
(Footage of firefighters)
RATHER: (Voiceover) But when they went to do their job one evening last winter,
these firefighters faced a fire that still haunts them everyday.
Chief McNAMEE: Last thought before I close my eyes at night, first thought when
I wake up in the morning, if I wake up during the night, it's what's on my
mind, and 100 times during the day.
(Footage of firehouse; firefighter's suit; siren)
RATHER: (Voiceover) It was December 3rd, 1999, just after 6 in the evening.
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) All of a sudden, the alarm hit.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage building with smoking coming out)
RATHER: (Voiceover) A report of smoke coming from a downtown warehouse.
Unidentified Man: (Voiceover) Fire at 263 Franklin Street.
Chief McNAMEE: Right away I said, `Bad building. That's the Worcester Cold
Storage building.
(Portrait of Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Co. building; vintage photo of
building)
RATHER: (Voiceover) A relic from the industrial age, the Worcester Cold Storage
building had been vacant for almost a decade.
And why did you say, `That's a bad building'?
(Vintage photo of Worcester Cold Storage)
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) If you can picture a building that has virtually no
windows in it--six stories worth of no windows--18-inch thick brick walls, very
difficult to make your way around inside. You could lose your bearings very
easily.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage with smoking coming out; fire truck; fire
scene)
RATHER: (Voiceover) But when they got to the warehouse, there were no flames in
sight.
Chief McNAMEE: It was a light to moderate smoke condition showing at the roof
at that point. I can remember saying, `Well, it doesn't look too bad.'
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage with smoking coming out; firefighters at
work)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Still, just as a precaution, Chief McNamee called for
backup as the arriving firefighters got down to work laying hoses, venting the
heat and smoke, searching for the fire and also searching for anyone who might
be inside.
Unidentified Firefighter #6: So many times we've gone into abandoned buildings
and found people there.
(Footage of firefighters at work)
Chief McNAMEE: We never assume a building is empty. We always search.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze; diner)
RATHER: (Voiceover) This time there was even more reason to search.
Mr. BILL McNEIL: I heard the first fire truck go by; I looked out the window
and I'd seen it stopped.
RATHER: Bill McNeil ran out of his diner.
Mr. McNEIL: First thing I did was go out the door and run up the street.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage with smoking coming out; photos of Tom
Levesque and Julie Barnes)
RATHER: (Voiceover) He reported that somebody might be inside. He knew two
people who lived in the abandoned warehouse--37-year-old Tom Levesque and
19-year-old Julie Barnes.
Mr. McNEIL: She said they had an apartment set up over there.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage with smoking coming out; Barnes)
RATHER: (Voiceover) He had just seen them walking to the building that
afternoon.
Mr. McNAMEE: We were already going through the search anyways, but then that
made them comb it even more.
(Footage of firefighter Paul Brotherton at work)
RATHER: (Voiceover) One of the first to start searching for the couple...
Mrs. DENISE BROTHERTON: (Voiceover) He was doing his job.
RATHER: ...was Paul Brotherton.
Mrs. BROTHERTON: He had just always wanted to be a firefighter.
(Photo of couple; family photo; photo of Brotherton)
RATHER: Denise and Paul Brotherton were raising six boys. All of them knew how
passionate their dad was about his job.
What made it his passion?
(Photo of Brotherton)
Mrs. BROTHERTON: I think just the ability to be able to go in, to go in and
make a difference, to save a comrade, to save someone from a building.
(Photo of Jerry Lucey)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Paul Brotherton's partner that night was Jerry Lucey.
Mrs. MICHELLE LUCEY: (Voiceover) If he knew anyone was in the building, he
would be right in there.
That's just how he was.
(Footage of children)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Jerry's wife, Michelle, and the couple's two sons, saw his
passion for the job.
Mrs. LUCEY: You know, he started collecting some pictures.
(Photos)
RATHER: (Voiceover) They also saw the risks.
Mrs. LUCEY: And if you really look close at this picture, you will see a
silhouette right there in the fire. And I asked him, `What were you doing?'
and he says, `Well, to be quite honest with you, I was looking for a way to get
out.'
(Photos of Lucey, Brotherton; footage of Brotherton; firefighters at work;
Worcester Cold Storage with smoking coming out)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Jerry Lucey and Paul Brotherton now went inside this
warehouse, along with two dozen other men, to search for the homeless couple
who might be inside. But none of them knew what they were walking into that
night. None of them knew that the homeless couple they were now searching for
had knocked over a candle which had set their belongings ablaze. None of them
knew that this fire had already burned for 90 minutes before the alarm was
called in.
Chief McNAMEE: We found the fire on the second floor and we were attacking it.
And we thought we had it boxed.
(Footage of firefighters at work)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Then in the blink of an eye everything changed.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
Chief McNAMEE: I'd say three to four seconds, it went from you looking at me
and talking at me to I'm not here anymore. Just gone.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: Thick, acrid smoke given off by the burning petroleum-based insulation
of the cold storage lockers blinded those inside...
Chief McNAMEE: I gave a very loud yell on the stairway. I want all personnel
down off the upper floors. I want a head count taken.
(Graphic on screen: Do you have any idea where the men are?)
Unidentified Firefighter #7: Do you have any idea where the men are?
RATHER: (Voiceover) As the men made their way out of the smoke-filled
building...
(Footage of firefighters exiting building)
Chief McNAMEE: All of a sudden, there was a radio message.
Rescue 600 to command--we're in the building. We're disoriented. We cannot
find our way out.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze; photos of Lucey, Brotherton)
RATHER: Somewhere inside this smoke-filled maze of cold storage rooms, Paul and
Jerry were lost.
Unidentified Firefighter #8: And we're looking at each other going, `Did you
hear what he just said?'
Unidentified Firefighter #9: To listen to men in that situation, especially
when they're friends of yours.
Unidentified Firefighter #10: That'll never leave me.
Unidentified Firefighter #9: No, I'll never forget it.
(Footage of McNamee; firefighters; Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Chief McNamee now ordered a new search to find Jerry and
Paul.
What's going through your head at this moment?
Chief McNAMEE: We've got to get this done. We don't have a lot of time.
(Footage of firefighters; Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The men walked back into a building that was now bursting
into flames.
Unidentified Firefighter #11: You couldn't see anything in there.
Unidentified Firefighter #12: You were just going by feel, senses, touch, and
it was, like, nothing you've ever seen before.
(Graphic on screen: I mean, Captain, I'm in the doorway of the 5th floor.
Unidentified Firefighter #13: I mean, Captain, I'm in the doorway of the 5th
floor.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze; firefighters)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The men worked in shifts...
Chief McNAMEE: There were probably up to 40 people at one time.
(Photos of Tim Jackson, Tommy Spencer; Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: (Voiceover) There was Tim Jackson and his partner Tommy Spencer.
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) Tommy Spencer had this look in his eyes, `Let's get
this done.' And they just watched them just disappear off into the smoke.
(Photos of Joe McGuirk, Jay Lyons)
RATHER: (Voiceover) There was Joe McGuirk and his partner, a young man named
Jay Lyons.
Chief McNAMEE: Jay has a very special place in--in--in my heart because I moved
into this house in 1977.
(Photo of Lyons as child; footage of home; photos of Lyons)
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) Jay was 12-years-old. He lived across the street.
He became my young friend. He used to always quiz me about the--the fire
department, the firefighters, until he finally became a firefighter after he
graduated from college.
(Footage of firefighters at work)
RATHER: (Voiceover) But that night, Jay was just another fireman doing his job.
(Graphic on screen: Someone in the doorway. Are they OK?)
Unidentified Firefighter #14: Someone in the doorway. Are they OK?
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The searchers could find no trace of the homeless couple.
And by now...
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) We had several transmissions from Paul and Jerry.
(Photos of Brotherton, Lucey)
RATHER: (Voiceover) ...Paul Brotherton and Jerry Lucey's oxygen tanks were
almost empty.
Chief McNAMEE: `You know, OK, we're on the floor now; we're buddy breathing,'
which means one of them ran out of air and they're taking the one face piece
and they're going back and forth with it. `We're buddy breathing. Hurry.'
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
RATHER: (Voiceover) But the building was turning into a giant oven, with
temperatures reaching over 3,000 degrees. And now some of the firefighters
searching inside were lost...
(Graphic on screen: Give us some sound of which way to go. We're running low
on air. We want to get out of here.)
Unidentified Firefighter #15: Give us some sound of which way to go. We're
running low on air. We want to get out of here.
(Footage of firefighters at work)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Chief McNamee faced the toughest decision of his life: How
many more men would he risk to save those missing firefighters?
(Photo of Lyons)
Mr. JIM LYONS: And I said, `My God, my son is trapped in that building.'
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
