The Worcester Col Storage Warehouse fire was a fire that began on December 3, 1999, in Worcester, Massachusetts. It started when two homeless and developmentally disabled people, Thomas S. Levesque and Julie Ann Barnes, who were living inside the warehouse, knocked over a candle after an argument earlier in the afternoon. Both fled without reporting the fire to emergency services. The structure was located five blocks east of the Worcester central business district, near the Union Station train station and adjacent to Interstate highway 290. The fire would eventually grow to five-alarm status and rage for six days before being brought under control. Firefighting companies from the city and from neighboring towns were called to respond.