(Footage of 48 HOURS logo; Michael and Brian Brotherton)
DAN RATHER, host:
Michael and Brian Brotherton...
Unidentified Firefighter #1: Come on. That's it. You punch like your sister.
Come here.
BRIAN BROTHERTON: I don't have a sister.
RATHER: (Voiceover) ...are no strangers to Worcester's Central Fire Station or
the antics of the firefighters.
Chief MIKE McNAMEE (District Chief; Worcester, Massachusetts): They ride with
us.
(Footage of Brothertons)
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) They'll spend nights with us. They eat with us,
they get yelled at by us, we cut them no slack.
MICHAEL BROTHERTON: All over here is the rescue side.
(Footage of Rather and Brothertons)
RATHER: (Voiceover) For six years, this was their father's second home.
M. BROTHERTON: This side is the engine.
B. BROTHERTON: This is--these all...
M. BROTHERTON: All engine one.
Our father slept right here. This was his bunk.
(Footage of Paul Brotherton; Brian)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Paul Brotherton died last December 3rd doing the job he
loved. His son Brian had always wanted to follow his dad.
So when you come up, where--do you sleep down here with the rescue group?
M. BROTHERTON: Yes.
B. BROTHERTON: Yes, I sleep in the same bed as my dad slept in. Even before
the fire, I had an idea of being a firefighter.
Unidentified Firefighter #2: This is what generates the jaws of life.
(Footage of Brothertons; Worcester Cold Storage ablaze; firefighters)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Since the fire, Michael's made up his mind.
When did you decide you wanted to do something with firefighting?
M. BROTHERTON: Pretty much right after the fire.
(Photo of P. Brotherton)
Mrs. DENISE BROTHERTON: They're very proud of their father.
RATHER: I know a lot of people, including this person, might say that having
lost your husband to fire, does it occur to you, `Well, maybe to hope against
hope they won't do it'?
Mrs. BROTHERTON: It doesn't bother me. I will respect them in whatever
endeavor they choose.
(Family photo)
RATHER: You have six children.
Mrs. BROTHERTON: Yes.
RATHER: How do you cope with this?
Mrs. BROTHERTON: They keep my feet planted every day.
Mrs. MICHELLE LUCEY: They always talked about Jerry having that twinkle in his
is eye.
(Footage of Michelle Lucey)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Jerry Lucey's wife, Michelle, is turning her grief into
action.
(Family photo)
Mrs. LUCEY: When you lose somebody who is so involved in something that he
believed in, I think you really want to make something positive, you know, come
out of it and--and have their deaths not be in vain.
Unidentified Man: If you had a vacant building...
(Footage of M. Lucey)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The campaign begins in Worcester.
Mrs. LUCEY: I'm on the Abandoned Building task force.
RATHER: (Voiceover) Michelle has teamed up with Kathy Spencer, the widow of
firefighter Tom Spencer.
Mrs. KATHY SPENCER: If the building is totally boarded up...
(Footage of K. Spencer)
RATHER: (Voiceover) They're looking at new ways to keep homeless people out of
Worcester's vacant buildings to prevent future tragedies.
Mrs. SPENCER: And they can be perforated so that the firefighters can see out.
Mrs. LUCEY: My name is Michelle R. Lucey.
(Footage of M. Lucey; thermal-images; firefighters)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Michelle is also lobbying the city for more training and
equipment, equipment like these thermal-imaging cameras which allow
firefighters to see through smoke.
Unidentified Firefighter #3: How you doing ...(unintelligible).
Unidentified Firefighter #4: I'm doing fine.
Unidentified Firefighter #3: OK.
(Photo of Jerry Lucey; children)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Since the tragedy, eight cameras have been donated to the
department.
Mrs. LUCEY: (Voiceover) I'm fighting now for his brothers, and I'm fighting now
for our future firefighters who may be my children some day. There's 17
children that are left behind that I'm sure at least half of them are going to
be firefighters.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze; firefighters)
RATHER: (Voiceover) Last month, a federal safety panel cited equipment failure
and confusion over the building's layout. But the lead investigator
acknowledged there's no way of knowing if anything could have prevented the
deaths of the firefighters.
You must think, at least some of the time, is there anything that I could have,
should have done differently?
Chief McNAMEE: Well, if--if I was second-guessing myself, one thing I--I
wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. I'd be over in a corner
somewhere curled up in a ball. The scary part about what happened that night
was we fought that fire the way we fought a thousand other fires. We went by
the numbers.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage memorial site)
Chief McNAMEE: (Voiceover) We vented. We entered. We attacked the fire. And
we searched. That's what we do at every fire.
Mrs. BROTHERTON: That, of course, is my husband Paul.
(Footage of Rather and Brothertons; photo of couple)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The support Denise Brotherton has received not only from
her community but across the nation is helping her to cope with her loss.
All of the letters and cards--about how many did you get?
Mrs. BROTHERTON: Somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000.
This is 1 of 39 containers that I have accumulated.
I had one letter up on my refrigerator that said, `Dear Mrs. Brotherton,
Spider-Man used to be my hero but no more. Mr. Brotherton is.'
RATHER: What a wonderful thing for that child to say.
Mrs. BROTHERTON: Phenomenal. Phenomenal.
M. BROTHERTON: This is where everybody sits.
(Footage of Brothertons)
RATHER: (Voiceover) The tribute Michael and Brian Brotherton want to make is to
proudly wear the uniform of a Worcester firefighter, just like their dad.
Unidentified Firefighter #5: There's no better legacy than to have the son
carry on in the footsteps of the father. And I think they would do themselves
proud and their dad proud.
(Footage of fire truck; Julie Barnes)
RATHER: (Voiceover) While the Brotherton boys have a clear view of their
destiny, the future of Julie Barnes and Tom Levesque hinges on a court's
decision.
They both face very serious charges of manslaughter. How do you feel about
that?
Chief McNAMEE: Oh, it--it--that's a hard one.
(Footage of Worcester Cold Storage ablaze)
Chief McNAMEE: They didn't start the firefighter on purpose. I wish they'd
called.
(Footage of Barnes in custody)
RATHER: (Voiceover) A judge decides their fate. That's next.
