3000 Degrees

The true story of a December 1999 warehouse fire in Worcester, Massachusetts that killed six firefighters and seriously injured three others. A minute-by-minute recounting of the events of this tragedy, it also describes the events leading up to it, the background of the individuals involved, and addresses the science and physical realities of an appalling fire such as this. At the centre of the story is the warehouse itself - a massive six-storey brick edifice with almost no windows: medieval in appearance. With a no-longer-used storage-vault for sides of beef and its labyrinthine warren of refrigerators within refrigerators, this building spurred teams of firefighters to penetrate the smoke-filled hellhole. Finally, a brave supervisor restrained any more men from jumping into the inferno. In a bitter irony, it was ultimately discovered that the homeless people originally thought to be inside had left before the building went up in flames.