Remembering the Worcester 6

By Bill Doyle
CFP Correspondent

WORCESTER - Father Jonathan Slavinskas, Worcester Fire Department chaplain, still remembers seeing the flames bursting from the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse on the night of Dec. 3, 1999, when six Worcester firefighters lost their lives in the fire.

A freshman at North High at the time, he and a few others had folded the bulletins at St. John Church and then he visited a friend on Vernon Hill. Riding on Route 290 on the way home, he witnessed the flames shooting through the warehouse roof.

“I remember it exactly,” he said.  

Tuesday night, 25 years later to the day, Father Slavinskas did his best to provide comfort to those still mourning the deaths of the Worcester 6 during a memorial ceremony outside the Franklin Street Fire Station, which opened on Nov. 19, 2008, on the site of the former warehouse. Pastor at Our Lady of Providence Parish, Father Slavinskas opened the ceremony with the invocation and closed it with the benediction.Photo by Bill Doyle | CFP

During a memorial service to remember the six firefighters who died when the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse caught fire on Dec. 3, 1999, Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas, Worcester Fire chaplain, opens with the invocation.
“First and foremost, it shows us that we don’t forget,” Father Slavinskas said in an interview earlier in the day. “As God doesn’t forget us, we don’t forget as well. And we recognize and know that we learn from those who have gone before us. We see that in the saints of the church by the way in which they lived their lives, it gives us a model to live as well. So as we look at these firefighters and we remember and honor them, we recognize that we also have the responsibility in a like manner to live a life of service and sacrifice for others as well.”

On Dec. 3, 1999, Lt. Thomas E. Spencer, Lt. Timothy P. Jackson, Lt. James F. Lyons III, Firefighter Paul A. Brotherton, Firefighter Jeremiah M. Lucey II and Firefighter Joseph T. McGuirk lost their lives after they entered the abandoned warehouse in search of two homeless people, who had knocked over a lit candle and who were believed to be inside. Later, it was learned that those people had left the building.

Each year since then, city officials and firefighters have honored the Worcester 6 on Dec. 3.  
“The fact that they’re not forgotten,” Father Slavinskas said, “speaks volumes to the way in which the city of Worcester bonds together to show that they truly do support those who are putting their lives on the line every day.”

After the tragic cold storage fire twenty-five years ago, the city and communities in Worcester came together to support the families of the fallen. Bishop Daniel P. Reilly and Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger presided at all six funerals.  

Seven sons of the Worcester 6 now serve as Worcester firefighters: Brian, David, Michael, Steven and Timothy Brotherton, Danny Spencer and Jerry Lucey III. Father Slavinskas has grown to know them well, especially the Brothertons.

“I think it speaks to the continuity of our sacrificial love,” Father Slavinskas said, “that we were all called to live out.”

Father Slavinskas pointed out that Jesus is a “model par excellence of sacrificial love” and his believers find a way to cope with sacrifice. The seven Worcester firefighters who are sons of the Worcester 6 wanted to continue the legacy of their fathers.

“I think at moments like this for the children,” Father Slavinskas said, “there’s not a day that goes by in which they do not reflect upon the footsteps that they are walking in and perhaps what has even brought them to be able to put on the boots themselves. They witnessed and experienced great pain with the passing of their fathers, but they also witnessed the consolation and comfort that comes from the community that stands together and it doesn’t go unnoticed by them.”

Mayor Joseph M. Petty, Chair of Public Safety, City Councilor Kathleen M. Toomey, City Manager Eric D. Batista and Fire Chief Martin W. Dyer spoke at the memorial ceremony.
Local 1009 President William Mosley and Vice-President Ryan Kelly told the “Story of the Bell.”  

The Worcester Fire Department and city officials gathered to strike a memorial box and place a wreath in remembrance of each of the six fallen firefighters. There was also a 21-gun salute.

“Beautiful service,” Father Slavinskas said after the ceremony. “To see the number of people who have come out, to see the firefighters gather all together again, time and time again like this, there was a solemnity that is needed in our community at times. That helps strengthen us as well.”

Hundreds of people braved the sub-freezing temperatures to watch the ceremony, which began with the Worcester Fire Brigade Pipes & Drums and firefighters from across the state processing down Franklin Street under an American flag hung from the bottom of the Route 290 overpass.

Former District Chief Ronald DeFusco, 84, retired in 2004, but he didn’t want to miss the ceremony.

“This is the way our job is,” he said. “We help each other, we laugh and we pray together. What does it mean to me being here? It means everything.”

Chief DeFusco is a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish.
“In times like this, I say, ‘Thank God,’” he said. “Thank God that a lot of guys made it out.”  

Chief Dyer is a parishioner at Christ the King and he used to work at the rectory at his former parish, St. Joan of Arc. His uncle, Monsignor John Dyer, served as pastor at several parishes in the Worcester Diocese before he passed away in 2006.

Dyer said his Catholic faith helps him cope with the loss of the Worcester 6 and he trusts that they are up in heaven with God.

“I can only hope,” he said. “I believe they are.”