Ladder 49 🎥 2004 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Baltimore City firefighter Jack Morrison saves a man’s life in a massive four-alarm fire in a 20-story concrete grain elevator/warehouse in the Canton waterfront neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. However, the grain stored in the warehouse explodes causes Jack to fall through several floors and break his leg. The film follows the efforts of the other men in his unit, Ladder Company 49, led by the commands of Deputy Chief Mike Kennedy, Jack’s mentor, to rescue him while Morrison tries to reach a safe area of the burning structure. Interspersed with the rescue efforts are a series of flashbacks showing how Jack joined the fire department, his first meeting with the woman who became his wife, his relationship with his children, and the bonds he formed and the trials and tribulations he endured with his fellow firefighters.

After graduating from the fire academy, Jack is sent to work on Baltimore City Fire Department Engine Company 33 in the busiest firehouse in the city. Quartered with Engine 33 is Ladder Company 49. On Engine 33, Jack learns the ropes of firefighting. He becomes close friends with his fellow firefighters, including Mike, his Captain. Jack’s first fire takes place at a burning vacant rowhouse. Jack and Mike enter the building with a hose line and tackle the blaze, quickly extinguishing it. After some time working on Engine 33, Jack arrives at the scene of another vacant rowhouse fire, where a fellow firefighter from Ladder 49, Dennis Gauquin, dies after falling through the roof of a building.

Numerous firefighters attend his funeral. Jack decides to take his late friend’s more dangerous position as a “truckie”, a search and rescue member on Ladder 49 by transferring to the Truck. As the years go by, Jack suffers traumatic experiences from rescuing a man from the ledge of a burning high-rise building in Downtown Baltimore and witnessing another friend and fellow firefighter from Ladder 49, Tommy Drake, suffer severe burns following a steam explosion at an industrial building.

Meet the Cast