Survivors Remember the Winecoff Hotel Fire

For the survivors of the Winecoff Hotel fire, there is great healing in being able to talk about what happened.

Although the hotel fire that claimed 119 lives back in 1946 has long been extinguished, it does not necessarily mean that the hurting has stopped.

For the survivors of the Winecoff Hotel fire and their families, there are still emotional scars that may never heal.

That is why it is so important for us to remember the human side of this historic fire.

For most of us we find it very interesting to read about the Winecoff Hotel fire and to view it strictly from a historical perspective. The facts are certainly intriguing.

However, as I mentioned, it is important to remember the human side of this tragedy as well.

That human side comes in the form of the survivors.

These survivors are the men, women and children who escaped with their lives on the night of December 7, 1946.

In addition, some of the survivors include family members of loved ones that did not escape.

The following is an article that I wrote for the February 2007 issue of Firehouse magazine.

Remembering the Winecoff Hotel Fire

December 7, 2006 marks the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As the famous words of then President Roosevelt so accurately predicted, it is “A date which will live in infamy.” Unfortunately, exactly five years after that fateful day, the United States would once again come face to face with a horrendous tragedy that we would not soon forget. On the morning of December 7, 1946, the world awoke to the news of what is still referred to as America’s deadliest hotel fire. In a span of 2-˝ hours, a total of 119 people lost their lives at the Winecoff, one of Atlanta’s landmark hotels. However, despite the large number of fatalities, there were those who survived the 15-story inferno and lived to talk about it.

Today, those survivors still remember the Winecoff.

On December 3, 2006, the Atlanta Fire Rescue department hosted a 60th anniversary commemoration of the Winecoff Hotel fire. Over 100 people attended the standing room only event, which was held at Atlanta’s old fire station #11. Local dignitaries, fire department personnel, and members of the media listened spellbound as those who had witnessed the fire told their stories. One by one the survivors spoke of trapped family members, spectacular rescues and victims who had plunged to their deaths. Although the memories were captured nearly six decades ago, each account was just as vivid as the day it occurred.

Arnold Hardy, a young Georgia Tech student at the time of the fire, told of how he snapped the Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a woman falling in mid air. He described how the woman had been trying to escape down a rope made from sheets and had lost her grip. Bob Cox relived the chilling story of how his father had held him as the senior Cox leapt from their 10th story window and plummeted towards the rescue net over 100 feet below. The three-year-old Cox landed squarely in the middle of the life net but his father hit his head on the rim and perished.

Margaret Foster, the mother of a 1-year-old, told of how she handed her little girl out the window of room 508 to an Atlanta firefighter. T.H. “Rick” Roberts who was a private with the Department noticed that the little girl, “smiled all the way down the ladder.” Nearly 50 years later, Roberts met the Foster “baby” for the first time. Upon seeing Connie Foster Broom, Roberts quipped, “I’d recognize that smile any where.” During the 60th remembrance Connie Broom told of her heroic rescue by the Atlanta firefighter and said, “I just want to give you a hug!” There were no objections from now retired Battalion Chief Roberts.

Although there are many more such stories, with each one being unique as to why they were at the Winecoff and how they were saved, there is a common thread that is woven through each tale. The mutual denominator that ties all of these survivors together is that they will not let the story of the Winecoff be forgotten. They refuse to let go of the memories of lost loved ones, the valiant efforts of the rescuers or the lives that were saved. After 60 years, remembering the Winecoff is still the unbreakable bond that holds them together.

Editor’s note: Read the entire story in, "The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America’s Deadliest Hotel Fire".

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