The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire

by Sam Heys

Describes the fire that destroyed Atlanta's Winecoff Hotel, resulting in considerable loss of life

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime

234 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

Reviews

[Jan Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the Historic Markers across Georgia web page

This is local history.

I gave the book to my father after it came out in 1993. At the time of the 1946 hotel fire, he worked nearby and witnessed its recent aftermath.

The Winecoff Hotel opened in downtown Atlanta in 1913. It was named for its builder and original owner who lived the rest of his life in that building. Like the unsinkable Titanic, the 15-story Winecoff was billed as fireproof, hence no fire escapes. Indeed, it was still standing -- after it burned. The ladders of the firetrucks reached only to the eighth floor, and 119 people died.

The evidence pointed to arson. The mattress where the fire supposedly started was not even consumed, while along the track of the fire, brass cuspidors melted into the floor. The fire did not spread evenly. The fire rapidly engulfed a certain area. In 1946, eighty percent of structures in the city didn't measure up to the fire codes of the time. There was gambling in one of the rooms and some evidence that the game had been robbed; perhaps witnesses were disposed of by fire. Alternatively, there were a couple of army buddies drinking all night who got in a loud fight demeaning one's wife. The one who started it left and may have come back to burn out his frenemy.

The fire was a major embarrassment for the city. A year later the fire department was excellently supplied, and Mayor Hartsfield needed a goad to get improved standards enacted and funded. Those aspirations required a terrible and unfortunate accident, not arson.

In '46, the police department was plagued with corruption, hence the gambling games running in that hotel room. And hence some prostitution out of some of the hotel rooms. The KKK controlled the police union. It wasn't until the following year that Police Chief Jenkins came on board and stood up to the KKK.

To prove negligence, lawsuits required an accident, while arson would get the hotel operators off the hook.

Even beyond that, there was little support and encouragement for investigation of possible arson. On the fortieth anniversary of the fire, a reporter working on a book had his notes stolen. Those notes weighed 30 pounds -- too big to misplace.

The first two-thirds of the book is composed of the victims' stories. Only in the final third is the focus on investigation. Even 25 years ago, though, most of the principal had died.

In the paper today: https://www.myajc.com/news/local/torp...

[Jim Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Winecoff Fire" is an extraordinary book, providing a glimpse into one of the most haunting moments in Atlanta's history. The Dec. 7, 1946, fire turned into what still ranks as the deadliest fire in U.S. history and the second deadliest in the world. Sam Heys and Allen Goodwin wrote a stunning account of the fire in the 1990s and now the story has been published as an audiobook to commemorate the fire's 75th anniversary. "The Winecoff Fire" relives the terrifying night through the eyes and memories of the those who experienced it. It's an incredibly gripping story, detailing what brought the guests to the Winecoff on that cold night and how life and death were delt in the harrowing hours that followed. It evokes memories of a more recent tragedy, the 9/11 bombings of the World Trade Center in Atlanta and the impossible choices those trapped on the top floors had to make. Then there's the city and hotel owner's response after the fact and a who-done-it element surrounding the possibility of arson. I've read the book twice now and just finished listening to the audio version, so skillfully narrated by Bruce Conger. It's one of those books that punches you in the gut and begs the question, "What if ...?"

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I can say is... This books jumps right into it!! No time spent with explaining things in the beginning. It starts at the fire and explains the backgrounds and details of the people involved as it tells you their fate. Different approach from the other fire related books I've read but it kept things rolling and broke things up. I liked it. A lot of times authors will go through all those details early in a book, then when you get to the fire it's hard to remember who was who. Not here. Most of the book is about the fire. The last part of the book covers the aftermath and the half hearted attempt to figure out why or how it happened. Over all a good book. Keep in mind, fire books can be hard to read at times. Dying from burning or hitting a sidewalk from 10 stories can be a tough read. As horrible as it is... You can also learn a lot about what to do(or not do) in this kind of situation. Well researched and well written book. Definitely deserves at least 4 stars.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a moving set of stories about this awful downtown Atlanta fire. I meant to read this since publication by Longstreet Press, now long-gone. I'd love a revision or second edition from a new publisher to include an index, and some social history and context.
To learn more, the Wikipedia entry is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winecof...
Interesting to see this book has a website and blog at http://www.winecoff.org/
There is, noted there, a related recent book, Stories of the Winecoff Fire: A Dedication to the Memory of the 119, which our public library has, and I hope to read later.
This book builds to a theory, or set of theories, of arson in the case. This is fascinating and difficult to document due to politics and delay.
But the stories of survival and loss can only make me think of 9/11 and NYC. This was a comparable trauma in Atlanta and the South, with, instead of culture conflict, the possibility of human error... or human malevolence.
Recommended.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that deals with a very tragic event but was very interesting and readable.

[Stacy Helton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Winecoff Fire was published in 1993 by Longstreet Press in Atlanta, where I worked from 1992-1997. I was mainly a reader of fiction in those days and did not have the true crime resolve I have now, so I never got around to reading it, but, since a couple of times a month I pass the old Winecoff Hotel, now the Ellis Hotel, I managed to pull the book off the shelf. This year (2021) marks the 75th anniversary of the 1946 fire, and Heys and Goodwin present a 100-page plus description of the fire minute-by-minute, as told by the survivors. One hundred nineteen people perished in the December 6 fire, most by smoke inhalation or jumping out the windows of the 15-floor "fireproof" hotel. The authors give the reader an unflinching look at Atlanta, "the city too busy to hate," in those post-war years, and follow not only the life stories but the policies and politicians as well in the years following the fire. The suspicion of arson was briefly followed at the time by journalists at The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, but no suspect was ever charged. The Winecoff, at the corner of Peachtree and Ellis Streets (for those who know the city, that is about catty-corner to the Hard Rock Café), now has a plaque outside memorializing the deadliest hotel fire in the United States. If you are down that way, stop and look up at the still-intact building (the building itself was left standing; it was the insides that the fire gutted, and imagine that cold December night all of those years ago. The authors have a deft hand expounded on the hotel guests that night, including school groups from around the state in town for a convention to the shadiest criminals and a floating poker game. Voracious readers can still find out-of-print books on internet sites.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born ten years after the fire and hadn't heard of it. Then, after reading Guadalcanal Diary, I looked into the fate of a WWII pilot mentioned there who narrowly missed being killed in combat but died in 1946. I learned that he was killed in the Winecoff fire, and that led me to purchase this book.

Reading it hit me like a punch in the gut. The scope of the tragedy took an emotional toll on me. I carried the sadness I felt for days afterward, and the only way to help purge it was to write my own personal essay about it. Years later, I still recall the author's telling of individual battles for survival, the tragic results of some of them, and the heroics carried out that night. Part of me wants to read it again, but another part of me knows the impact it had on me and realizes that I shouldn't. What a journey this book took me on!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billed as a “Fireproof Hotel” much like the Titanic was the “Unsinkable Ship”. Seems to me a tempt of fate! 119 people died.

It was really interesting reading the stories of the people who survived, and sad to read about the ones that didn’t. All those kids! 1946 was not equipt with all the safety laws that we have now. There is no way a hotel would operate now without fire exits! And odds are we have the Winecoff and other tragedies to thank for that! While lots of folks died inside the hotel, many jumped – some to safety some to death.

It was also interesting to read about how the owners of the hotel reacted to the fire and what came after.

[Becki D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed account of the Winecoff Fire. A detailed account of why people were at the hotel, what they were doing when the fire broke out and how they escaped the fire. The book is not padded with unnecessary information to make a longer book. It's direct but respectful to the victims. Rarely do I encounter such detailed accounts of historical disasters. Highly recommend reading.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely enough, I've walked by the place of this fire many times in Atlanta without knowing about it. As someone who reads all of the plaques I see, I think it makes it even worse. Many of those who died in this forgotten fire were young people in town for a religious meeting, and for many it was their first time away from their small town homes.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got angry, I cried, I got angry again, I cried some more. This is why we have stringent health and safety laws, to prevent things like this happening, and this is going on my list of books to shove at people who complain about health and safety laws and 'we never had this back in the day'.
A great book, especially with the dedication to the dead on the last few pages.

[MARY ANN LARY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spellbinding read

Very thorough story, well investigated and written. I could not put it down, read it in 2 days, can't recommend it enough!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of detail about the tragically sad Winecoff Hotel fire of Dec. 7, 1946

[Tracy St Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many people gave this book a great rating. Everyone gave it a 4 or 5 star and I was going to pan it with a 1.5 or 2 star for its punch-you-in-the-gut horror movie introduction which instead lasted the entire first half of the book.

After thinking it through, I have decided that Heys is a literary genius for the genre. I entered the book in a burning building, confused about where I was, and spent half a book meeting people and watching their lives end in vicious, gruesome ways -- jumping out of windows many stories up and dying, jumping out of windows many stories up and living, suffocating, tying bedsheet ropes together and having them burn apart, tossing children out the window, burning to death, on and on and that isn't all of it -- with only the slightly outline of the general plot.

Where was I? When was I? How did this building come to be, what was its background, and why aren't there any fire exits? Nothing for the first half of the book, so I cheated and carefully reread the dust-jacket flap and Wikipedia. This is the Winecoff Hotel, and this fire is the deadliest hotel fire on US soil then and since. I salute Heys for his approximation of the fear, horror, revulsion and confusion with no answers that must have also met the victims on that deadly night. Challenging literary gymnastics, and I'll give him credit for success.

Another piece of the book follows the more traditional path of a disaster book -- describing the survivors and the wounded, bit pieces on the funerals and the impacted communities, and the inevitable lawsuits.

Finally, the book ends with speculation about the cause of the fire and points some fingers. Some of those finger jabs were so strong and untempered with the usual "might have" or "allegedly" that I wonder if a defamation suit might be in order.

This is a strong book, a brave book and one not for the faint of heart. It covers an event forgotten by America but needs to be remembered lest it happen again. 5 stars!

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 5 out of 5]

A positively gripping account of the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.

On December 7, 1946, an inferno consumed the popular Winecoff Hotel, located at the corner of Peachtree and Ellis streets in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The horror of that cold winter’s night, lit by raging flames, is captured with awful and tragic clarity by authors Heys and Goodwin who provide a seminal history for an event that remains the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history and took the lives of a heart-rending 119 people. Heys and Goodwin deftly capture the panic, pain, and heroism of the night, carefully tracing the lives of dozens of people trapped in the raging firestorm and then portraying the horrible choices many had to make – leaving spouses and children behind, suffocating as they gasped for breath at the hotel’s windows, or dying as they fell (or were forced to leap) from skyscraper high windows as flames scorched their backs.

Even 60 years after the event, the human drama is palpable and drew me through this book like quicksilver. And while the blaze is undoubtedly the centerpiece of this book, Heys and Goodwin also dig compellingly at the aftermath of the fire, weaving a real-life whodunit? as they examine the argument that the fire was no accident, but arson, and take an unflinchingly peek at the seamier side of the Atlanta urban metropolis. As a local resident, the homegrown history and criminal detective work of the authors was just as dynamic as the telling of the disaster. High praise to Heys and Goodwin for capturing a story that should never be forgotten and for infusing it with a level of emotion that reverberates from the pages.

[Mae Camp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that I am terrified of fire, so this was a dark read for me. I've also stayed at this hotel, which is now a boutique hotel in Atlanta. Because of that, and because of an eerie experience I had staying there, I read this book.

It was phenomenal. A great read! The witness accounts were heartbreaking and presented in a way that made me feel as if I had been in the hotel. The stress was intense because they had no ladders that could reach the upper floors and no way out. The heroism of the survivors, those who helped save others or made sacrifices, was truly moving.

There is a section about how the tragedy of this fire resulted in changes to fire codes in the United States.

Although the subject matter is gruesome, it’s a compelling story, and the writing took my breath away. Highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys firsthand accounts of survival.

[Rick Segers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard of this event for years. I had a neighbor who would recount endlessly how her son was at the Winecoff the night of the fire and aided in the rescue and treatment of the injured. He was an intern at Grady Hospital at the time. I was able to confirm this as he was mentioned by name in the book. It remains the worst hotel fire in the U.S. and is the second worst in the world. Many of the victim were teenagers who were in Atlanta for a youth event at the state capitol.
The authors do a great job telling the story of some of those killed and injured in the fire. Many believe the fire was arson but no one was every charged with the crime and the hotel owners paid a small amount in lawsuit damages as a result of the fire.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone interested in Atlanta history or architecture should look into this book. Very interesting as it depicts the lives of those involved and the details behind what made it the deadliest hotel fire in American history

[Magnoire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about the 2nd worst hotel fire in which almost 200 people died. Very in-depth research into the victims lives.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting history of this tragic event. A must read for anyone interested in either the history of fires or of Atlanta.