Fire Report from Winecoff Hotel

This official copy of the fire report from the Winecoff Hotel fire is one of those documents that I mentioned as being still in the "raw" form. Of course, back when this report was written (1946), the Atlanta Fire Department was not using computers.

I'm not sure if an official type-written version has been found, however, this handwritten copy is a real jewel.

Although it may take you a little time to read through the cursive, I'm sure that you'll find it very interesting none the less.

Here are a couple of things to look for as you read this fire report.

First of all, notice how many fire trucks were at the scene of the Winecoff Hotel fire. The magnitude of the blaze required the "general alarm" which was literally everybody.

This "all hands" response included all Atlanta Fire Department personnel (even those that were off-duty) as well as mutual aid help from surrounding departments.

Something else that is quite interesting in this report is that a lot of attention was given to two of the hotel guests, McFalls and Russell.

Also, in the first part of the report, the origin of the fire is said to have occurred in the hall in front of room 326, which was occupied by McFalls and Russell.

However, later in the report it states that the two guests were in room 306. Which one is right?

Two other guests, Lindervall and Fletcher, are also singled out. Mention is made in reference to the amount of heat that was evident in the hall outside of their 5th floor room.

One final thing to look for:

Make sure to note the comment concerning the basement that was included in an inspection report.

This inspection was conducted by the Atlanta Fire Department just days before the Winecoff Hotel fire.

As you can see from reading this copy of the fire report,there is a lot of good information that can be gleaned from these documents.

If you were paying attention, you noticed that the room number for McFalls and Russell was given as number 326 (the origin of the fire).

However, later on in the report (on page 3)their room was stated as being 306. I'm not sure what to make of that.

During my research of the Winecoff fire, I came across a list of all the rooms and their occupants on the night of December 7, 1946.

On that list it has McFalls and Russell in room 326. So who was in room 306? Sgt. Sidney Morris and his wife.

So why the discrepancy? Perhaps in the haste of writing the report the wrong number was written down and never discovered.

Until now.

If you enjoyed reading this fire report, click here to return to the Winecoff Hotel fire information page for even more rare finds.

Click to go to Firefighter Information home page.

footer for fire report page