Just another day in the life of a Fireman Part 2 _Corrected facts Updated March 7 ,2016 | Eastern North Carolina Now

Stories my dad told me about his life as an Atlanta Fireman.

    "The Winecoff Hotel fire of December 7, 1946 was the deadliest hotel fire in United States history, killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel's owners. Located at 176 Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the Winecoff Hotel was advertised as "absolutely fireproof." While the hotel's steel structure was indeed protected against the effects of fire, the hotel's interior finishes were combustible, and the building's exit arrangements consisted of a single stairway serving all fifteen floors. All of the hotel's occupants above the fire's origin on the third floor were trapped, and the fire's survivors either were rescued from upper-story windows or jumped into nets held by firemen. The fire was notable for the number of victims who jumped to their deaths. A photograph of one survivor's fall won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography". Click for Wiki link.



    The Winecoff Hotel was built in 1913 was sixteen stories (numbered 1-15 as no 13 floor was used in those days). It had 195 rooms full to capacity with 280-registered guest. There were no fire escapes

    The Atlanta Fire Department only had two 85-foot aerial extended ladders but the Winecoff was 150 feet high. . All floors from eighth floor up had no escape except for making a sheet rope or jump. The elevators were inoperable and the fire consumed the stairwell.

    My dad was a fireman and fought the fire on that cold December might. Over the course of his career, he fought many fires but this was the worst of his career and he seldom mentioned it except to say when the subject came up, "Yea, I was there, it wasn't a pretty sight".

    After my mom passed away in 1999, dad and I would sit on his patio in Stone Mountain and I tried to get him to tell me some of his life stories. I recorded some but not all. He was not a drinker but in his later years, he enjoyed the Bartles & Jaymes fuzzy navel. I finally got him to tell me his experience of fighting the Winecoff fire.

See correction below IN BLUE:     He said when he got to the fire the building was completely engulfed in flames. The ladders could not reach high enough to rescue the trapped people on the upper floors. One of his firemen friends was a wrestler. Dad called him a big bruiser of a fella. People were jumping out of the windows. They had fire nets like you may have seen before but they were not designed for high-rise jumpers. The bruiser tried to break the fall of a jumper and they landed on him and broke his back. He recovered but never fought another fire. They transferred him to the signal department and a desk job for the rest of his career.

    Dad said after they brought the fire under control they entered the building and started a floor-to-floor search. The higher they went up in the building the more damage they saw. He said he saw several people burnt in their beds without apparently knowing what happen. They were overcome with smoke before they could wake up.

    On the twelfth floor, they entered a room and he saw a woman and two kids hovered over the commode. They had tried to use the urinal to get fresh air while waiting for rescue. It never came.

    After telling me the story, he repeated his observation again. "it wasn't a pretty sight". Then without emotion or any change in his voice he said "Hoppy, get me another Fuzzy Navel".

    Dad was not a demonstrable man when it came to tragedy. He took it all in stride. I never saw him break except one time in my life when I had to tell him that my mom and his wife of sixty-seven years had died. It was the briefest of moments before he regained his composure and began his life without her. He was ninety three and lived another six years but the spark was gone.

    I guess that was how you dealt with things when you were born in 1906 and saw the great depression, two world wars, and had a father abandon you and his family before you were ten years old.

March 7, 2016 UPDATE ON THE WINECOFF FIRE STORY

   I had some of the details incorrect in my post above. I wish that I had recorded my dad's story of this fire so I would have the correct details on Bruce White. Quite by accident, I saw this article posted on Facebook by a retired fire fighter friend of my dad who maintains a site FB site dedicated to the Atlanta Fire department (Atlanta, old stuff, Atlanta Fire Department to 1970). This story written in May 1948 gives details that correct my narrative. Bruce was an Atlanta policeman and not a fireman. Here is the story of his injury and dedication to duty exhibited on that December night 70 years ago.

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