Fiery Whirlwind (film)

1971, Chicago. Firefighter captain Dennis McCaffrey dies in extinguishing a fire due to a gas pipe explosion. Witnessing the death is his youngest son, Brian, whom the captain took with him to look at the fire fighting.

1991 year. Having changed several occupations, Brian graduates from the fire academy and falls into the best fire department of the city, division 17, where the head, by coincidence, is his older brother Stephen, which was previously headed by their father. But the unit doesn’t stay long because of tensions with his brother and, on the advice of his long-time girlfriend Jennifer, who works as an assistant to the mayor, gets a job as an assistant to Donald Rimgale, nicknamed “Shadow” - a former firefighter, due to serious burns on one of the tasks transferred to fire investigators.

Rimgale at this time is investigating a chain of strange fires that killed three, seemingly unconnected people. During the investigation, he concludes that in all cases there was arson using , a substance that gives the effect of “ back draft ” when burning - each time the fire smoldered inside the building and as soon as the victim opened the door and allowed access to air, there was an explosion. The same substance, says Rimgale, is an absorption catalyst and is used in the extinguishing of chemicals.

Continuing the investigation, Rimgale finds out that the victims were connected with the mayor of the city, for whom they made a report on budget optimization by cutting costs, including for the fire service, as a result of which several fire departments were closed, which were turned into entertainment venues, and the company -One-day, with which three were connected, completed the entire volume of construction work and raked a lot of money from the budget. Rimgale and McCaffrey go home to the mayor to talk about it, but they find an unknown person in the house who stunned the mayor and unscrewed the gas line from the stove to disguise the murder as a gas explosion. Unknown attacks Brian, with the help of Rimgale he manages to free himself, simultaneously pushing the attacker onto the exposed contacts of the electrical outlet, as a result of which a burn remains on his shoulder, but he manages to escape. Rimgale and Brian manage to pull the stunned mayor out into the street, but an explosion occurs, as a result of which Rimgale is thrown onto the fence and he gets a stab wound with a fence rod in his shoulder.

Further investigation, Brian conducts alone and seeks help from a psychopath-arsonist Ronald Barthel, who is serving time in a specialized hospital. That leads him to the idea that it is not a maniac that acts, since it does not allow the flame to burn for too long. According to Barthel, he is not an insurance compensation specialist either, since the damage caused is in all cases too small. When Bartel asks Brian where the fire starts, he replies that the unknown is operating with trityl chloride. Then Bartel gives him a tip - the arsonist should be sought among those who do not like fire and have constant access to trityl chloride.

Brian recalls that he saw the tanks with trityl chloride on the boat on which Stephen lives and suspects his brother of everything. He goes on a boat and finds several full cans there. At this time, Steven arrives and Brian expects that he himself admits everything. But the conversation fails and Brian leaves. He goes straight to the 17th section, where, in search of additional evidence, he breaks into his brother's closet. But at this time he sees Edcox coming out of the shower room, a fireman at the rate of his brother, who has a burn on his shoulder. Brian understands that Edcox was the unknown who attacked them in the mayor’s house. They understand each other without words.

At this time, a fire signal is received at a chemical plant. Stephen drives up to the site, a short conversation takes place between the brothers and Stephen the first understands that in all three cases the arsonist is Edcox, since it was he who gave Stephen trityl chloride as a detergent. Edcox hears their conversation from the top floor. Brian says that he will have to report everything to Rimgale, but Stephen persuades him not to do this, promising himself to talk with Edcox. Steven’s crew goes out to extinguish and Brian suddenly realizes that Edcox will try to kill Steven, attributing his death to a fire. Grabbing someone's fire uniform, he joins the second crew and also goes to extinguish.

On the roof of a burning plant, Brian witnesses the stormy explanations of Stephen and Edcox. He tells Stephen that he arranged for the death of those three and tried to blow up the mayor’s house in order to avenge the firefighters who died recently - they all did not receive reinforcements due to the closure of neighboring fire departments. Explanations are interrupted by the collapse of the roof and the calculation has to do the fire. As a result of the collapse of the structures, Stephen hangs on the fragment of the parapet and tries to keep Edcox on himself, on whom his clothes caught fire. He asks to let him go, but Stephen replies that he will fall with him or restrain him. Unable to resist, both fall down. Edcox falls into the fire and burns, Stephen is seriously injured in the fall and dies in an ambulance. Before his death, he asks Brian not to tell anyone about Edcox so as not to disgrace his calculation.

In the finals, Stephen and Edcox are solemnly buried, and Rimail, who has discharged from the hospital, makes a mourning speech. After the funeral, Rimgale and Brian come to the mayor at a press conference and, in the presence of journalists, ask him to comment on the closure of the fire departments and money laundering in their restructuring. Brian after the death of his brother returns to the fire department and continues to serve.

BMI Film & TV Awards, 1992

• Award - Best Film Music ( Hans Zimmer )

MTV Movie Awards 1992

• Nomination - Best Movie
• Nomination - The Most Spectacular Episode

BAFTA , 1992

• Nomination - Best Visual Effects (Allen Hall, Scott Farrar, etc.)

Oscar , 1992

• Nomination - Best Sound (Gary Summers, Randy Tom, Gary Rydstrom , Glenn Williams)
• Nomination - Best Editing Sound Effects ( Gary Rydstrom , Richard Hymns)
• Nomination - Best Visual Effects (Michael Salomon, Allen Hall, Clay Pinney, Scott Farrar)

• Fire storm

• Fire Whirlwind at the Internet Movie Database
• Fire Whirlwind at Box Office Mojo
• Fire Whirlwind ( Rotten Tomatoes)

Reviews

• Owen Gleiberman . Review Entertainment Weekly . Date of treatment October 10, 2014.
• Review: "Backdraft" . Variety Date of treatment October 10, 2014.