Ross Simpson

The former Winecoff Hotel, now the Ellis Hotel

The Winecoff Hotel Fire was the deadliest hotel fire in United States history,
killing 119 hotel occupants, including the hotel’s owners. Located in downtown
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the hotel was advertised as "absolutely fireproof." While
the hotel’s steel structure was indeed protected against the effects of fire, the
interior finishes were combustible, and the building’s exit 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 Winecoff Hotel fire was notable for the number of victims who jumped
to their deaths.

A series of forest fires in the Northern Oregon Coast Range called the Tillamook
Burn destroyed over 300,000 acres of old growth timber in what is now known as
the Tillamook State Forest. There were four wildfires in this series which started
in the Gales Creek Canyon on Monday, August 14, 1933. According to reports,
a steel cable dragging a fallen Douglas fir rubbed up against the dry bark of a
wind-fallen snag and burst into flams.