Absolutely Fireproof

December 7, 1946 - It was on this day that one of the tallest buildings in Atlanta went up in flames. It was the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.

At 3:15 in the morning a bellboy discovered a small fire on the third floor of the 15-story Winecoff Hotel. The night manager attempted to alert guests by telephone, but the nearby fire department wasn’t notified until 20 minutes later. By then, people trapped on upper floors were already jumping to their deaths.

The hotel stationery described the Winecoff as “absolutely fireproof,” and the building’s steel structure did help prevent a total collapse, but thick wallpapers, open transoms and highly combustible furniture turned the building into a raging inferno.

119 of the 304 guests would die, but some were lucky to survive by leaping into the firemen’s nets.

Arnold Hardy, a grad student at Georgia Tech snapped a harrowing photo of Daisy McCumber as she plummeted to the street. Miraculously, she survived and that image would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Public outcry following this disaster helped usher in sweeping upgrades to hotel building codes, like self-closing fire doors and multiple escape routes.