The State - News from May 21, 1989

Fire officials in Ukiah said the blaze that destroyed a century-old hotel last week was ignited by a cigarette. Two men died in Wednesday’s fire, which officials said was the worst in the Mendocino County city for at least 45 years. Investigators said the fire that engulfed the New State Hotel was “alcohol- and tobacco-related,” and began in one of the hotel’s beds. They did not say whether someone had been smoking in bed. The New State Hotel, built in 1889, had mostly served as a home for transients in recent years.