F. Mark Granato

Out of Reach: the Day Hartford Hospital Burned F. Mark Granato

In December 1961 a flash fire rages through the modern, pristine Hartford Hospital, stoked by a limitless supply of fuel and a ravenous appetite. In the heart-pounding minutes that follow, a fireball virtually incinerates the unreachable ninth floor of the hospital leaving behind a charcoal tomb of terror, sadness and death. But the fire monster is deprived of ultimately satisfying its voracious hunger to devour the entire hospital ? and all in it ?by city firefighters who improbably snatch victims from its fiery jaws through unthinkable acts of bravery and determination in one of the greatest ?stops? in firefighting history. When the smoke finally clears, only a nightmare is left where the flames had been, a lurid dream that an entire city will never forget, a tragedy that will haunt 16 families and traumatize even the most hardened, veteran firefighters, police, doctors and nurses forever. But in the whispering winds that howl through the smashed windows and blackened corridors of the hospital, a question lurks: was this the result of a careless smoker ? or an insane act of vengeance?