Kirkbride Buildings Blog

February 18th, 2009

Worcester State Hospital Fire

The Worcester State Hospital Kirkbride building on fire
squad546 over at the Asylum Projects Forum scored the biggest asylum-related find of the year (so far) by tracking down video footage of the 1991 Worcester State Hospital fire. The video was taken by a gentleman named Michael Newton, who gave squad546 permission to post it on the web. I’ve included a few screenshots in this post, but you can see a lot more here: Worcester Fire Footage.

squad546 will try to get the actual video uploaded to the web soon. I’ll link to it once it’s available. I’d like to give a big thanks to Mr Newton for sharing this footage. It’s sad to see, but amazing at the same time, and I’m glad it was documented like this.
A wing of the Worcester State Hospital Kirkbride building burns
Firefighters putting out the fire at Worcester State Hospital
Fire Engines at Worcester State Hospital

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Discussion

  1. WSH February 18, 2009, 2:56 pm

    I’d like to say this is going to be cool but it will be sad to watch.

    On that note does anyone know if anyone was ever caught/convicted in the arson?

  2. squad546 February 25, 2009, 4:27 am

    Officially the reports blamed “vagrants” for starting the fire, although who starts a fire in mid-July to keep warm?! The other suspect was a contractor who bid on taking down one wing of the Kirkbride. I’m gonna get the video uploaded soon!

  3. Ethan February 25, 2009, 10:37 am

    Hmmm. People might start a fire in July to cook food, but that doesn’t mean that’s what happened.

    I’m really looking forward to that video!

  4. Maggie January 17, 2010, 11:07 pm

    Well i just barely began looking into this place. I have a lot of questions but I’ll stick with one for now. And im curious on how it actually caught fire? I know it was only part that caught fire but still. Why? If someone could fill me in on somethings , I would greatly appericate it .

  5. Ken October 7, 2010, 11:38 am

    Did that video of the fire ever get uploaded to the web? Thanks.

  6. MB May 31, 2011, 12:29 am

    It was rummored that maybe a client had started the fire

  7. EJFX June 18, 2011, 8:48 pm

    It was definitly arson … I just saw the arial picture of the fire … fires dont burn sideways, they burn upward then out … this picture shows the entire upper floor burning, but the roof is still intact … its like someone ran around the top floor pouring gas everywhere.

    What was the name of the contractor?

  8. Brian Lovejoy August 13, 2011, 11:53 am

    what was the cause of the fire at worcester state hospital in the summer of 1991.

  9. Brian Lovejoy January 17, 2012, 4:57 pm

    where do you get more pictures about the worcester state hospital fire i would like know thank you very much Brian Lovejoy.

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Books on Amazon

The Art of Asylum Keeping The Eclipse of the State Mental Hospital The Mad Among Us America's Care of the Mentally Ill Angels in the Architecture The Architecture of Madness Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals The Eye of Danvers: A History of Danvers State Hospital
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