New fire station opens at site of Worcester tragedy

Six firefighters killed in '99 blaze

WORCESTER - Soon after the rubble of the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire was cleared, a debate ensued about what to do with the site where six firefighters died on Dec. 3, 1999.

David and Sharon Arnold were among those pushing for a memorial to be built there. But once they stepped inside, they were convinced the city did the right thing by building its newest firehouse on the Franklin Street site, its brick structure and copper roof visible from Interstate 290.

"It needs more poles, though," said David Arnold, a former city firefighter, referring to the traditional pole firefighters slide down when an alarm is called. "You can never have enough poles."

Arnold said he suffered a disabling injury fighting the warehouse blaze almost nine years ago, and said he would have liked to have seen the site turned into a memorial. But he was glad to see the station finally take shape.

"It wasn't my first choice of what to do with it, but it came to grow on me," he said.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, firefighters, residents, dignitaries, and family members of the fallen firefighters packed the gleaming, 15,000-square-foot, three-bay station yesterday for the opening ceremony.

The station's first alarms could be sounded as early as tomorrow. Sixty-eight firefighters will work there.

The $8 million station will replace the Brown Square station at Plantation and Franklin streets, which is closing, and the Central Street station, which has already closed. Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio said the facility is a fitting replacement for two other stations.

The ceremony was a mix of warm remembrances and acknowledgment of the political will it took to get state funding for the project.

The three mayors who have served the city since the fire - Raymond V. Mariano; Timothy P. Murray, now the lieutenant governor; and Konstantina B. Lukes - attended the ceremony, along with city councilors and most of the city's State House delegation.

"We can never say their names often enough," Lukes said, referring to the six firefighters killed in the blaze: Paul A. Brotherton, Jeremiah M. Lucey, and Joseph T. McGuirk; and Lieutenants Timothy P. Jackson Sr., Thomas E. Spencer, and James F. "Jay" Lyons III.

Frank Raffa, president of Local 1009, International Association of Fire Fighters, said the station was a long time coming, adding that he believed the six could hear everyone at the station.

"This is a great tribute, this is a new beginning," Raffa said.