excerpts of Floyd Lochers memory of the fire
from Auburn a Century of Memories
Floyd was born in 1901 and his father died in 1909.
. . .my father and I were crossing the street right about Cherry Avenue, and we saw a man run out from the Freeman Hotel over to the fire tower. . .the grips for the hammer that rang the bell came straight down and the man stood directly under and took one of those in each hand, they were like stirrups, and he pulled them. . .it would start slow and go faster and faster. The old fire bells had the most blood curdling sound . . .we looked up and realized there were shadows going across the street, and saw that it was smoke and we realized the Freeman Hotel was on fire. We went up to the firehouse which was where HeartFederal Savings and Loan is now. The old ditch ran right along and directly under the old fire house, in fact, the old #1 firehouse had been the office for the Bear River Ditch Company and the City had taken part of it over for a firehouse (this firehouse has been moved to the corner of Lincoln Way and El Dorado Street).
. . .smoke and flames were billowing up and they pulled the old hook and ladder wagon out and they ran the ladder up the side of the building. The annex was three stories high. . .it had the decks with the porch railings around. . . I remember the firemen took those long hooks, pike poles, off the side of the fire truck and took them over there and they pulled the porch posts and railings out of the way. . .the fire was a dilly. . .the Southern Pacific sent a fire train from Roseville. They were afraid the depot would go again (which was right across the street) as it had two or three times before. (In the time since 1865, when the railroad reached Auburn, there had been several big fires at the depot.) They never had to use the big tanks full of water on this fire though The fire didn’t go through to the original part of the hotel.
. . .years later I was talking to Margery Slade who lived around the Tuttle Street and Hoffman Ave, area, and she told me that they all went up as high as they could to Los Altos (which is now Landis Drive) and they saw Bill Freeman, who owned the hotel going through the rooms and throwing the bedding, pillows and the mattresses out of the windows. . .