Someone recently wanted to know how the Emerson Hotel, a three-story brick building caught fire. First, a little background. The reason why Susanville came into existence as a municipality, had to do with the lack of fire protection. Its business district had been devastated by fire too many times.
In 1902, the City of Susanville introduced Ordinance No. 17 that structures in the business district be constructed of fire resistant materials, such as brick, native stone and concrete. The roofs of these buildings would use fire resistant material as well.
The Emerson Hotel was built in 1900-01. The one feature the brick building did not possess was a fire resistant roof. At around midnight on August 5, 1915, Emerson’s warehouse located on nearby Cottage Street caught fire. The wooden structure, built in 1873 originally housed the Congregational Church. By the time the fire was discovered, the building was engulfed in flames, with erratic winds sending embers into the air. In no time, the roof of the Emerson Hotel was on fire and containment was impossible, for now the fire had spread to two nearby structures the Hyer House Hotel and the Methodist Church, the latter a brick building. It should be noted the Methodist Church was built at the same time as the Emerson Hotel, and lacked a fire resistant roof.
