Winecoff Hotel fire


The former Winecoff Hotel, now the Ellis Hotel

Date: December 7, 1946; 78 years ago
Venue: Winecoff Hotel
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates: 33.7583°N 84.3878°W
Type: Fire
Cause: Unknown
Deaths: 119
Non-fatal injuries: 65

The Winecoff Hotel fire of December 7, 1946, was the deadliest hotel fire in American history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel's original owners. Located at 176 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, the Winecoff Hotel was advertised as "absolutely fireproof". While the hotel's steel structure was indeed protected against the effects of fire, its interior finishes were combustible and the building's exit arrangements consisted of a single stairway serving all fifteen floors. All of the hotel's occupants above the fire's origin on the third floor were trapped, and the fire's survivors either were rescued from upper-story windows or jumped into nets held by firemen.

A number of victims jumped to their deaths. A photograph of one survivor's fall won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography. The fire – which followed the June 5, 1946, La Salle Hotel fire in Chicago (with 61 fatalities), and the June 9, 1946 Canfield Hotel fire in Dubuque, Iowa (with 19 fatalities) – spurred significant changes in North American building codes, most significantly requiring multiple protected means of egress and self-closing fire-resistant doors for guest rooms in hotels.

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One of the fire's victims, Daisy McCumber, falls after jumping from a window. She survived, with serious injuries. This photograph by Arnold Hardy won a 1947 Pulitzer Prize.

Press coverage

Arnold Hardy, a 24-year-old Georgia Tech graduate student, won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, capturing the fall of Daisy McCumber from the building with his last flashbulb. Hardy had been coming home from a dance. Hearing sirens, he called the fire department to find the location and went to the fire scene. Atlanta Journal photographer Jack Young, suffering from pleurisy, checked into Grady Memorial Hospital at 3:30 AM on December 7. When the hospital received news of the mass-casualty incident, Young dressed and left the hospital for the fire scene. AP photographers Rudy Faircloth and Horace Cort also arrived at the scene. Following the fire, Hardy appeared at the AP office with his own images, three of which were usable, one of which was of McCumber's fall. The AP bought Hardy's pictures for $300. McCumber survived her fall.

Impact on fire codes

The fire, coming on the heels of the La Salle Hotel fire, had a major impact on building codes.[20] A national conference on fire prevention was convened in 1947 at the direction of U.S. President Harry S. Truman in response to the La Salle and Winecoff fires. Both fires had highlighted the problems associated with unprotected stair openings, which provided paths for the spread of smoke (in the case of the La Salle Hotel) and fire (at the Winecoff), simultaneously preventing the use of the stairs for escape. The National Fire Protection Association's Building Exits Code of 1927 had already set forth principles requiring the use of multiple, protected means of egress, and was further revised to allow the code to be incorporated as law. Emphasis in building design and construction was changed from the protection of property — the Winecoff's "completely fireproof" statement on its stationery was accurate insofar as it was confined to the building's structure — to place primary emphasis on the protection of life, with property protection subordinated to that goal. Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall reacted to the narrowly defined "fireproof" statement, stating:

The public is being defrauded when a hotel is advertised as "fireproof," but really isn't. Responsible agencies should prohibit the use of the word "fireproof" when a hotel is not really fireproof as the Winecoff obviously was not.

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