On December 3, 1999, the call crackled in to the men of the Worchester, Massachusetts Fire Department: a three-alarm warehouse blaze in a six-story windowless colossus of brick and mortar.

Firefighters love the excitement of a "triple." But this was a different beast. Rollovers, flashovers, backdrafts, this one had it all. Swallowed deep in the building, they found themselves trapped in a snarling furnace of ink-black smoke and blazing orange heat as hot crematorium that would push them to the very limits of loyalty and courage.

What happened next, and how their lives and community were changed forever, offers an unprecedented look at these heroic men whose job it is to rush into burning buildings when everyone else just wants out.

Written by Sean Flynn and read by Christopher Walker

Sean Flynn writes for Esquire and other magazines. His Esquire article The Perfect Fire won the National Magazine Award and was one of the most talked-about works of nonfiction of the year. He is the author of Boston D.A., an account of life inside a big-city district attorney's office.

PLEASE NOTE: This is the abridged version. An unabridged version of 3000 Degrees is also available on Spoken Network