Big Blaze Unlikely, Officials Say : No Sprinklers, Smoke Alarms on S.D. Library’s Main Floors

San Diego’s downtown library does not have sprinklers or a smoke-detection system on the three floors accessible to the public, but fire officials say it is unlikely that the building could burn as intensely as Los Angeles’ Central Library, which was destroyed by fire Monday.

Although the San Diego building has repeatedly passed fire inspections, the multimillion-dollar fire in Los Angeles raised new concerns about the vulnerability of the San Diego library’s two prized collections included among its 800,000 books and 5,000 periodicals. The library’s Wangenheim Room, which emphasizes the history of book printing, and the California Room, a repository of Southern California history, are valued at more than $300,000.

Library officials said that the only sprinklers in the 32-year-old building are on the two basement levels, which are used as storage areas for old periodicals and duplicate books. Fire Department spokesman Ron Davis said the building, on E Street between 8th and 9th avenues, is not required to have smoke detectors. A spokesman for the city’s General Services Department, which maintains the building, said the library does have a fire alarm system.

“The building has good exiting and is not occupied at night, so the code does not require smoke detectors,” Davis said. “ . . . Actually, it’s one of the best-maintained buildings in the city.”

According to Davis, the building is checked annually by fire officials and was last inspected in October. During that inspection, only two minor infractions were noted and they were quickly corrected, he said.

Davis also said that unlike the Los Angeles library, San Diego’s main library has plenty of windows that would provide good venting in the event of a fire. In the Los Angeles blaze, firefighters were hampered by intense heat that was trapped inside. The heat, which according to some reports reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, prevented firefighters from effectively fighting the fire from inside and caused it to burn for more than seven hours.

San Diego’s main library boasts the second-largest public collection of fore-edge paintings in the United States. The library’s Wangenheim Room has 200 books that feature the little-known and seldom seen art of fore-edge painting. Only the Boston Library has a larger public collection.

Fore-edge painting was popular in the 19th Century, when book publishers commonly decorated book edges in gold paint. Some edges were decorated with watercolor scenes that were invisible under the gold paint when the book was closed. In order to see the painting, the reader had to curl the book’s edge. The library also has 30 books that feature a different scene when the books are turned around.

Library employee Eileen Boyle said that the Wangenheim Room has 7,000 volumes, many of which came from the collection of Julius Wangenheim, a San Diego banker and civic leader who died in 1942. Wangenheim was also an avid reader and bibliophile who devoted the last 20 years of his life to developing a collection that detailed the evolution of book printing.

“The Wangenheim’s collection spans more than 4,000 years and includes rare Babylonian clay tablets and a first edition of Samuel Johnson’s dictionary published in 1755,” said Boyle. “You always worry about fire in a library and hope it never happens . . . If they’re (books) not incinerated, there’s always water damage to worry about.”

The Wangenheim Room also features a papyrus scroll from 100 B.C.; Buddhist scriptures written in Pali script on lacquered palm leaves; a 1615 Spanish missal printed on calfskin; and a 13th-Century handwritten Bible composed in Latin. The room has numerous leather-bound sets and books with bindings made from embroidered velvet, tortoise shell and mother-of-pearl.

So valuable are the books in the Wangenheim Room that library officials do not permit any pens inside for fear that the volumes may be unnecessarily marked or vandalized. Due to lack of money, the room is not permanently staffed and is closed to the public.

“It’s a warm, rewarding room that exudes knowledge,” said Boyle as she admired the antique Oriental rugs and hardwood shelves that make the third-floor room appear as a book lover’s private library, nestled away in a country mansion.

The California Room, located on the library’s second floor, has a collection of books and periodicals that emphasize Southern California history and also includes several local maps dating back to the 19th Century.

“The California and Wangenheim collections have grown because of gifts from private collectors,” said Deputy Director Patricia Allely. “And at the same time the number of books on our shelves keeps growing. We’ve really outgrown our needs here and are looking forward to the day when we can move into bigger quarters.”

The City Council has approved plans for a new main library but has yet to approve a site. City officials say they prefer that the new library be built downtown.