Deadliest Hotel Fire: The Winecoff Disaster of 1946 - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Winecoff Hotel fire is considered as the worst hotel fire in the history of the United States. The fifteen storey building was established in 1913, and it measured 62.75feet by 70 feet approximately with square feet of about 407.5 square meters per floor and a total of 200 rooms (Heys & Goodwin, 1993). During the time when the fire incident occurred, the hotel had about three hundred guests, with most of them were permanent residents. The hotel fire occurred on 7th December 1946 at around 3:30 am, and it was later stated that the elevator operator was the first to smell smoke and went ahead to alarm the hotel front desk agents who eventually called the hotel occupants to warn them about the fire.

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At approximately 3:42 am, the first emergency call from the hotel was placed at the Atlanta fire department by the night manager.It was later established that about 119 hotel occupants inclusive of the hotel owners died in the fire, with about 65 of the deaths been as a result of jumping or falling from the hotel as they tried to escape(Heys & Goodwin, 1993). More than 100 individuals inclusive of the firemen sustaining severe injuries, and also about 120 hotel occupants were rescued uninjured.

Main Cause of the Fire

Various speculations were made on what could have started the blaze. However, a report from the investigators showed that the blaze originated in the hallway of the 3rd floor where a chair and a mattress had been temporarily placed at the corridor, which was close to the 4th-floor stairway(Heys & Goodwin, 1993). There were suggestions that a dropped cigarette in the corridor could have blazed the mattress or the other combustibles on the floor.

Design Flaws

Some of the design flaws and decorations in the hotel, which aided in the spread of the fire included wallpapers, carpets, doors, wooden rooms, furniture, and trims. Reports from the National Board of fire investigation stated that the fire was very intense, and it spread very quickly as a result of the naturally established draft by the open stair shaft, which was centrally located(Wooley, 1947). Heated gases, smokes, and flames quickly entered the rooms due to the opened or partially opened transoms with wooden panels.

Additionally, the hotel had two elevators extending from the basement of the building to the penthouse, and a single unclosed stairway, and these were the only means which could be used for regress from the 3rd floor and the rest of the floors. According to recommendations from the National Board of fire, the standard requirements for this building were two distinct and fully enclosed stairways. However, this hotel had a single enclosed stairway that extended from the 15th floor to the roof and an ordinary wooden door that enclosed the fifteenth floor (Wooley, 1947). Moreover, the hotel lacked fire doors, fire sprinklers, fire alarm systems, outside and inside fire escapes; neither were there reports of fire training and fire drills for the employees.

Lastly, when the hotel occupants learned about the fire and dangerous gases and smoke started filling their rooms, they decided to open the windows to seek help and fresh air, and this further made the fresh air draft hence making it spread rapidly.

Issues With the Building Design That Hindered the Fire Response

Scott, 1994 argues that the open stairway was responsible for trapping the most considerable number of hotel occupants above the fire and that it gave the fire departments a great hindrance to quickly rescue and carry out fire operations. Additionally, reports had it that the fire interposed a barrier hence limiting extinguishment and life-saving during the first vital minutes. Since the hotel was a high rise building, the ladders brought in by the fire departments to fight the fire could barely get to the tallest floors in the hotel (Scott, 1994). This made the firefighters try placing the ladders horizontally across the alleys of the nearby buildings.

Hazard Analysis as Part of the Prevention Through Design Process (PtD)

Hazard analysis refers to the process of establishing hazards and risks, which may be from a particular system or its surroundings and making documentation of the potential consequences as well as an analysis of the possible causes(McElroy, 1947). It is essential for the business management and the owners to perform a hazard analysis in order for the guests, vendors, and employees to stay safe through early identification and the analysis of the noticed hazards hence implementing change(McElroy, 1947). The Winecoff hotel management should have carried a proper hazard analysis, and this would have helped them to identify the various fire hazards as well as their potential harm. For instance, the carpets used in the rooms and the hallways, the burlap on the walls, wooden furniture/doors, as well as the wooden transoms and louvered shutters used for ventilation in the building.

According to McElroy, 1947, utilization of the Prevention through Design (PtD) process would have helped to make various changes in the design of the hotel like flame retardant materials instead of the burlaps on the walls and proper interior ventilation systems instead of the used wooden transoms.

Use of the Ptd to either Prevent the Fire From Occurring or Reduce the Severity of the Outcome

Ideas and inventions by the Prevention through Design like proper external escapes ;for instance the chutes and ladders, fire alarm systems, fire sprinkler systems, thoroughly enclosed stairways and the use of doors which are fire non-combustible would have aided in the reduction of the loss of lives through decreasing the severity of the fire (McElroy, 1947). If the hotel had installed fire alarms, the hotel occupants and other individuals would have identified the blaze sooner hence giving the occupants enough time to escape before getting trapped in the rooms and hallways by flames, fumes, smoke, and other poisonous gases.

Conclusion

Various safety codes have been established to include using fire retardant materials during construction. The Prevention through the Design process can be used during the designing and the planning stage of the building and also on an ongoing basis when hazards are established and risks assessed. During the process of change in the building, the PtD is also important to ensure that regulations and safety codes are constantly updated and in case hazards are identified. There is a need for the Prevention through Design model to be implemented to minimize or alleviate the impacts of the associated dangers.

References

Heys, S., & Goodwin, A. B. (1993). The Winecoff fire: The untold story of America's deadliest hotel fire. Longstreet Press.

McElroy, J. K. (1947). The Hotel Winecoff Disaster. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, 40(3), 140-145.

Scott, T. A. (1994). The Winecoff Fire: The Untold Story of America's Deadliest Hotel Fire.Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40583011

Wooley, R.B. (1947). Atlanta's Winecoff Fire Worst in Nation's History. Fire Engineering. Retrieved from https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-100/issue-1/features/atlanta-s-hotel-winecoff-fire-worst-in-nation-s-history.html