Crew assessing library fire damage

St. Cloud Times (MN)

Aug. 19--Crews on Thursday morning were assessing smoke damage at St. Cloud Public Library following a Wednesday afternoon fire that landed a St. Cloud man in jail.

Each of the approximately 106,000 volumes in the second-floor collection, which is valued at about $2.1 million, must be evaluated, Julie Henne, associate director of public relations, said Thursday morning. The library remained closed Thursday; Henne said Tuesday was the earliest it could potentially reopen.

"There's soot and there's smoke. The pages of a book act as a sponge sometimes. Each one of the books needs to be assessed and cleaned and determined if it's easier to replace it or clean it -- what's more cost-efficient," Henne said.

Henne said one book from the history collection was put on a chair and lit on fire. A north-facing window next to the chair in a reading alcove was broken, likely as a result of the blaze. No one was injured. Along with the books, 70 of the library's 190 computers are on the second floor and will be assessed for damage.

Jorge Ozornia, 47, was booked into the Stearns County Jail on Wednesday; police stated he could face arson charges.

Steam Brothers cleaning company staff was at the library Thursday, as library staff was meeting to discuss next steps. What happens next will involve the city, which owns the building, and the insurance company.

Henne said one of the patrons alerted staff to the blaze.

According to an update from the St. Cloud Police Department: "(The) employee saw Ozornia tearing pages out of a book and feeding a fire that was already burning the seat cushion of a chair."

"They calmly and swiftly evacuated all patrons and staff, pulled the fire alarm and called 911," Henne said. Firefighters and police were on the scene within minutes.

Henne estimated 250 patrons and staff were evacuated.

"The great thing is this is very rare. Our patrons are very respectful and they act appropriately," Henne said. "The staff handled it the way they should have."

Asked if additional security measures had been discussed, Henne said the immediate focus was on air quality and smoke damage assessment.

"I don't know what additional security we could have taken or could have put in place," Henne said.

On an average year, about 600,000 people use St. Cloud Public Library. July saw about 41,000 patrons. Henne said August is a particularly busy month.

"We're wrapping up our summer reading program, so we have lots of children that want to come in (and claim) their prizes," Henne said. "Timing is never good for something like this, but it's hard when you've got kids who want to be at the library."

St. Cloud Public Library disconnected its phone line; other sites within the Great River Regional Library system, including those in Waite Park and Foley, remain open. Online library services continue uninterrupted. Henne said staff worked into the night Wednesday to ensure things ran smoothly at the 31 other locations.

Due dates will be extended for items checked out and placed on hold. Those registered to use a public meeting space or signed up for a library program will be notified. Henne said staff was working to ensure regional operations continued smoothly.

Find Ann Wessel on Twitter @AnnWessel.

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