Bathroom Fire Forces Evening Library Closure

A fire that may have been set deliberately melted a bathroom towel dispenser in Doe Library yesterday, shutting down the main stacks for the rest of the day.

It started on a paper-towel dispenser in the men's bathroom on the library's second underground level just before 3 p.m., library staff said.

All the main stacks were closed to students, who were sent along with the staff out into the cold on the steps.

Anna Hillburg and Sharon O'Malley were working at the main circulation desk when they were told to evacuate.

"Two people came to warn us that someone had set fire to a paper-towel rack," Hillburg said.

It is unclear how the fire started, but it is possible that someone deliberately started it, said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth.

"It appears suspicious at this time," he said.

Water sprinklers helped contain the fire to the bathroom and there was little fire damage.

No books were reported damaged.

"There was smoke in that room and an adjacent janitorial closet," he said. "That was pretty much the extent of the fire."

Students were unable to return or check out books.

Dakota Nim was one of several displaced students sitting in the foyer of the library.

She said she had been told the stacks were just shut down because of the smell of the fire.

"We were going to meet in a study room so we could talk," Nim said. "It's really too bad. Now we're going to have to find somewhere else to meet."

Orth said the decision to shut down the stacks was an administrative decision rather than their recommendation.

Stacks are expected to be open today after they are ventilated, library staff said.

Riti Patel, who works for library security, fended off questions from curious and confused students.

"People are trying to return books or they want to know when the library is going to be open, or what happened," Patel said.

The UC Police Department is investigating the incident.

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