BETHESDA, MARYLAND – November 21, 2006 – In the early morning hours of December 7, 1946 a fire at Downtown Atlanta’s Winecoff Hotel left 119 people dead and 90 people injured. This fire, which occurred 60 years ago, is still the deadliest hotel fire in the history of the United States.
总部位于马里兰州贝塞斯达（Bethesda）的工程计划经理克里斯·杰莱尼维奇（Chris Jelenewicz）说：“建筑设计有缺陷的重大因素。”“此外，由于建筑物是由不可燃烧的材料建造的，因此被认为是防火的。这给建筑物的所有者和乘员带来了错误的安全感。”
大火时，温科夫酒店只有一个出口楼梯可供乘员逃脱15层建筑的上层。这个楼梯的门没有被火评级，许多门被打开。耶琳尼维奇说：“一旦大火在三楼开始，楼梯就有效地变成了烟囱 - 允许烟雾和火迅速蔓延到这座楼梯和整个楼层。”
Many of the hotel guests died in their sleep. Because the stairway was inaccessible, other occupants chose to jump to their deaths. Others died by trying to escape the building while climbing down a makeshift escape line made out of bed sheets.
Additional contributing factors to the number of deaths and injuries included combustible interior finishes, a delay in calling the fire department, and the lack of a fire alarm and automatic fire suppression system.
在死亡人数中包括30名青少年，他们是佐治亚州议会大会的青年议会。这些青少年正在佐治亚州各地的城市和城镇访问，并参加了“模拟”立法会议。
As a result of this fire, many building and fire codes were enhanced to make buildings including hotels safer from fire. Some of the enhancements in the building and fire codes included provisions for improved exiting systems, safer interior finishes, and the installation of fire alarm and automatic fire suppression systems.
“The Winecoff Hotel Fire reminds us of the danger that is posed by fire and the importance of designing buildings that are safe from fire,” said Jelenewicz. “The fact of the matter, however, is that today hotels are now much better protected. This is in large part due to the fire-safety strategies and systems designed by fire protection engineers that make people and property safer from fire.”
A historic marker stands at the corner of Peachtree Street and Ellis Streets in Downtown Atlanta at the site of the Winecoff Hotel fire to commemorate the 119 lives that were lost that morning.
关于Society of Fire Protection Engineers
Organized in 1950, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers is the professional society for engineers involved in the field of fire protection engineering. The purposes of SFPE are to advance the science and practice of fire protection engineering, maintain a high ethical standing among its members and foster fire protection engineering education. SFPE’s worldwide members include engineers in private practice, in industry and in local, regional and national government. Chapters are located in Canada, China, France, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
有关SFPE的更多信息可以在www.sfpe.org.
