WORCESTER, Mass. (WLNE) — It’s been 25 years since six Worcester firefighters lost their lives fighting the “Cold Storage Fire.” On December 3, 1999, the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building caught fire. The abandoned building was nearly a century old and full of flammable material. The fire broke out when two homeless people inside the warehouse started fighting and knocked over a candle. Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. James Lyons, Paul Brotherton, Timothy Jackson, Jeremiah Lucey and Joseph McGuirk lost their lives looking for those homeless people believed to be inside the burning building. The Leary Firefighters Foundation was established in 2000 by actor Denis Leary in response to the fire that claimed the lives of his cousin, a childhood friend, and the four other brave firefighters. The Worcester Fire Department will host a memorial ceremony today to honor the lives of six firefighters, and have since created a pop-up exhibit managed by retired firefighters on display at Union Station in Worcester to tell the story of the men who lost their lives in that fire. The exhibit will be on display until tomorrow at 2 p.m. Categories: News