The Winecoff Fire

In the predawn hours of December 7, 1946, the Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta killed 119 people in the worst hotel fire in U.S. history. The 15-story building had neither fire escapes, fire doors, nor sprinklers. For two and a half hours, Atlanta firefighters and others from nearby towns battled in the cold and saved the majority of the 280 guests, but their ladders reached only to the eighth floor and their nets could not withstand jumps of more than 70 feet, so numerous guests died on the sidewalks and in the alley behind the building. Thirty of the 119 victims were Georgia high school students who had come to Atlanta for the YMCA’s Youth Assembly at the Capitol. The fire became a watershed event in fire safety, and within days cities across America began enacting more stringent safety ordinances; its continuing status as the worst hotel fire in U.S. history testifies to its impact on modern fire safety codes.

Atlanta, Georgia · United States