Arnold Hardy - Winecoff Photo changed fire safety
When 119 people died in Atlanta’s Winecoff Hotel when it burned early on the morning of Dec. 7, 1946, the nation was horrified by the news. But if it wasn’t for Arnold Hardy and his picture of Daisy McCumber falling in midair in front of the hotel’s facade it may not have become the turning point in modern building fire safety. After selling his image to the Associated Press for $300 (he received $200 more as a bonus) it was printed on front pages around the world and mobilized the nation to make buildings safer from fire dangers.
That morning, Hardy, a Georgia Tech graduate student, arrived home from a late date and soon heard sirens. An avid photographer and a quick thinker, Hardy called the fire department saying, “Press photographer. Where’s the fire?” Winecoff Hotel was the answer and he was on his way with his camera and five flash bulbs.
Though the Winecoff Hotel was touted as being fireproof, the structure quickly became an inferno blocking many patrons inside. As the fire advanced people resorted to tying bedsheets into ropes to escape the flames but many slipped while others simply jumped from the building to escape an even worse death. Arnold Hardy was the first photographer on the scene and by that time many patrons had already died. After using all but his last bulb on wider shots, Hardy decided to try to capture an image of someone falling from the building. The result won him a Pulitzer Prize and sparked a nation to action.
Though at the time it was reported that the women pictured died from the fall, she did survive.
Realizing that from then on all of his photos would be compared to that one image, Hardy decided to opt for a career in business and founded an X-ray equipment business.
Arnold Hardy died at age 85 on December 5, 2007.
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