3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It

You meet Worcesters finest, go to work with them. Then the worst happens and you pray with them, cry with them, and mourn with them. This book is wonderful, I could not put it down. I cired for the families and for the Firefighters left behind.

There is little in this world that can be as terrifying yet as satisfying as crawling into a blazing building and cheating death and fire by escaping and beating the fire down. In 25 years with fire departments, I have never read a story that depictes the courage and fear involved in firefighting with the scope, depth and compasion as this book does. It actually stood the hairs on my arms up several times and caused me to have several flashbacks to those "tougher" fires in my life. In addition, I was pleased to see the author treat firefighting with just enough simplicity for laymen, yet with enough attention to detail to capture the minds of firefighters themselves.This is a must read!!

As a girlfriend of a Marlborough, MA firefighter, this book hit very close to home. I cried many tears as I turned each page. Because of my first hand experience with the bond of brotherhood, I initially speculated the value of the author's words. I was pleasantly surprised. Sean Flynn created such strong insight into Chief Macnamee's thoughts. I constantly feared what he would be faced with next, and I felt as though the only way to support him was to keep the book in my hands and the lives of those men in my mind. Even though I knew of the devastating ending, I couldn't stop reading. The reactions of both the chief and widowed wives seemed like an invasion of privacy but at the same time created a pocket of peace in my heart. At first frightened by the idea of what the story would unfold, I am grateful that I trusted Flynn to tell a story of courage. With each chapter, Flynn's words became more and more resemblant of a voice in my mind each time the fire fighter in my life kisses me goodbye and says "See you tomorrow." This story is as real as it gets. After closing the back cover, two days ago, I feel greater appreciation and pride for not only the man in my life, but the firefighter in my world. This story is a must read.

Like many of Worcester, MA, I watched this fire and was overwhelmed by its power. The loss of life was without equal. This recounting is a great tribute to the Fire Department and all the men present at this fire. Many of us listened to the events unfold on scanners; others watched as the flames colored the night sky. Sean Flynn tells all the details and the humanity of these life shattering event. No matter where you live, this book is a must read to understand what firemen and women do everyday. As well as to see their lives through their family and friends.

There is only one complaint to be made of this book: The picture on the dustjacket. Instead of a photograph of someone dressed in fireman's gear, there should have been a photograph of the building described in the narrative, an enormous building with no windows, no easy paths, and, once it caught fire, no mercy. It became a monster which took the lives of six firemen. Sean Flynn does a great job in telling this story. The book is relatively short, but Flynn does not shortchange the reader. You turn the pages fast as Flynn provides brisk views of the firemen he writes about, giving us the flavor of their family lives and their personal ambitions, and then rushing on into the action and tragedy that are the centerpieces of the book.This is a true story, but Flynn writes as if it were a novel, letting us know what people were thinking and saying in a terrible situation. He is able to do this because he has researched the story so well. (It began as a story for Esquire magazine.)The descriptions of the desperate attempts to save the six firemen who became lost in the mazes of the fiery Worcester Cold Storage building are some of the best true-life action sequences you are likely to encounter in a book. Flynn describes the aftermath of the fire eloquently, relating the sorrow, guilt, and pride felt by the surviving firefighters, and just as important, the heartbreak of the families the heroes left behind. Before the Worcester Cold Storage building ever caught fire, one of the firemen in this book looked at the towering thing, imagined it on fire, and said, "Bad Building." It seems he was right. Bad building. Hell of a good book.