A few minutes past five o'clock on the drizzly Sunday evening of January 29, 1956, more than 1,200 men and women were preparing to return home following an oyster roast sponsored by the church many had attended that morning, in Brooklyn, Maryland.

When workers spotted smoke drifting downward from the ceiling, no one panicked. World War II veterans and war workers, they were accustomed to dealing with this sort of thing themselves. No one called the fire department.

This is an account of the next three minutes, and what followed.

"All great and tragic fires in America, like New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist fire and Boston’s Cocoanut Grove fire, have unique and compelling stories. Arundel Burning is no exception. Joseph Ross’s narrative is so informative and well done the reader becomes completely absorbed in it. A commendable and memorable book." - Dennis Smith, author of Report from Engine Co. 82