Thomas Edward Spencer

Members of the Worcester Fire Department responded to a fire in the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse. The building was a windowless six story structure. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters found a large warehouse with light smoke conditions and a fire on the second floor. Search and rescue and fire attack operations were initiated. Within seconds, conditions in the fire building changed and thick black smoke reduced visibility to zero. All Fire Department personnel were ordered down from upper floors and a head count was taken. The head count revealed that two firefighters were not accounted for. A “Mayday” radio transmission was received from Firefighter Brotherton indicating that he and Firefighter Lucey, both of Rescue One, were lost and running out of air. A search for the trapped firefighters was initiated with eighteen firefighters searching for the two that were lost. Lieutenant Spencer, Firefighter Jackson, Firefighter McGuirk, and Firefighter Lyons entered the fifth floor to conduct a search. Contact with the team was lost and all six firefighters perished. Although it has not been released yet, NIOSH is conducting a review of this incident. The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental, the result of a knocked over candle during a domestic dispute by some transients living in the building. The transients were charged with manslaughter for failing to report the fire.