In a twenty-five period from 1894 to 1919, Susanville witnessed some of its most devastating fires. It first began on August 14, 1894 when the Bremner sawmill and Anthony’s electric light plant on the Susan River caught fire and was destroyed. It was followed by the Knoch Building fire of August 9, 1898. The Blue Goose Saloon also burned down on August 9, 1912, which sported the town’s first electric neon sign. The Arnold Mill fire of August 6, 1914, was followed by the destructive of fire of August 5, 1915 that consumed the Emerson Hotel, Hyer House Hotel and the Methodist Church. The photograph of that fire shows the intensity of the heat leaving just the brick wall shells of the Emerson and Methodist Church. Located between the two was the two-story wooden Hyer House Hotel which was completely wiped out. The last of these fires was when the majority of the north side of the 700 block of Main Street that destroyed the Hotel Lassen among other things on August 14, 1919.
