3000 Degrees
The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought it
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
September 3, 2004 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781593162757
- File size: 138751 KB
- Duration: 04:49:03
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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On the evening of December 3, 1999, a true-life drama began when Worcester, Massachusetts, firefighters were called to a blaze in an abandoned warehouse. Two firemen who had been searching for homeless people inside the building called: "Mayday, Mayday. . . We're running out of air." Four others went in to find them, also to be trapped inside. All six would be found dead the next day. Christopher Walker captures that tragic day with a dramatic ending that focuses on the emotions of the people involved--the firefighters and their families waiting for word at home. He gives human perspective to this multifaceted view of one of the worst tragedies in firefighting history. J.A.S. 2003 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine -
If the nation was awed by the heroism of firefighters on September 11, it should not have been surprised. Flynn's engrossing book about a far lesser known tragedy in Worcester, Massachusetts, makes clear that bravery did not suddenly materialize that day among the men who put out fires for a living. Rather, every firefighter is a hero-in-waiting who at any moment may be called upon to risk everything for a stranger or comrade. Flynn's gripping account of a lethal three-alarm fire in a monstrous windowless warehouse is a primer in the universal ethic of the firefighting profession. The mentality is most nearly that of soldiers in a war, who are as dedicated to the defeat of a dangerous, crafty enemy as to their brothers in battle. Richard Rohan's reading is true, capturing the flavor of workingmen in New England and never succumbing to mawkishness. M.O. 2003 Audie Award Winner (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
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March 25, 2002
During the long night of December 3, 1999, a windowless, century-old storage building in downtown Worchester, Mass., was turned into a six-story stove. In gripping prose ("The smoke banked down like bolts of black velvet, heavy sheets curling and rolling and folding together"), Flynn describes how, once ignited, the deserted Worchester Cold Storage building must have been the perfect structure for a perfect fire. In a style similar to Sebastian Junger's, Flynn's chapters hustle from disastrous city fires that occurred earlier that summer, building tension and setting the scene for the final disaster in this tottering working-class New England town. With confident, deft description, Flynn brings to life this 3,000-degree catastrophe with a crackling intensity, which, unfortunately, he never quite achieves for the people within his story. The human element doesn't quite live up to what he presented in his first award-winning Esquire
magazine piece that won notice for the survivors as well as the spouses and parents of the six firemen who were killed. Likewise, Flynn minimizes the subsequent police investigation and forensics that made national headlines for weeks after the fire. Nonetheless, the same work ethos that made New York City firemen and rescue companies run into the doomed World Trade Center towers is here in a smaller dimension but equally intense story of fire-fighting tragedy. Photos, blueprints and map not seen by PW. (Mar. 29)Forecast:With a large marketing campaign, Flynn's powerful drama, which has been optioned by Imagine Entertainment (the folks who did
Backdraft), has the potential to sell well. Tales of firefighters are hot, but this title might be overshadowed by books on firefighters from September 11.
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