Second Library Fire Also Arson; Link Studied

The fire that erupted in the Los Angeles Central Library on Wednesday was deliberately set in a manner similar to a disastrous $22-million arson blaze that destroyed hundreds of thousands of books and artworks there last April 29, the Fire Department said Thursday.

“We have determined that the fire is incendiary,” Deputy Chief Don Anthony told reporters gathered just below the fire-blackened, second-floor art and music reading room in the east wing.

Battalion Chief Bill Bisson, who heads the Fire Department’s arson section, said that investigators are “seriously considering” the possibility that the arsonist who set April’s fire may have ignited the one on Wednesday also. “We’re looking into that but that’s not a strong suspicion at this time,” he said.

Anthony noted that in both fires at the downtown landmark the arsonist ignited what was available--music scores and music books in the case of the latest fire--without using a flammable liquid.

Comparatively Quick Control

Unlike the April fire, which raged in the book stacks for about six hours, firefighters from 25 companies controlled the blaze within 36 minutes, confining it to a single 20- by-80-foot room housing what City Librarian Wyman Jones said is the largest music collection in the Western United States.

Jones estimated that a minimum of 25,000 volumes, about half of the circulating books kept in the room, were destroyed in the blaze, which reached temperatures of 2,000 degrees and melted light fixtures. Adding the Fire Department’s estimate of $100,000 to $200,000 in structural damage, he said the total damage probably is in the area of $2 million.

The double blow to the 60-year-old library intensified the search for the arsonist or arsonists responsible. And it produced a mystery.

After the April blaze, security was increased at the library. More guards were hired, staff members were required to sign in an out and the public was excluded from the building. The library supposedly had been cleared when the latest fire was reported at 6:17 p.m. Wednesday.

Moreover, only about 14 minutes before guards outside the building spotted smoke coming from the second floor, a team of security officers had passed through the music department and found nothing amiss.

Under the circumstances, how did the arsonist get into the second-floor room?

Escorting reporters through the burned-out room, Assistant Fire Chief Rey Rojo said that perhaps there was a “little Agatha Christie” here.

Asked how an outsider could have gotten into the building, Chief Anthony indicated he did not know. He said the job of security guards is to determine that no one is in the building when the library is secured at night.

Inside Job Not Ruled Out

“To your other question, ‘Is this an inside job? Or, are the security personnel under suspicion?’ We have not ruled any of that out. We are not saying that in fact it is or is not an inside job.”

After the fire four months ago, the department circulated a composite drawing of a man in his late 20s or early 30s seen in a restricted area only minutes before the blaze broke out. In late June, fire officials said the search for the arsonist had turned cold.

But now, Anthony said, the Fire Department will attempt to match about 200 tips received about the earlier fire with what they find out about Wednesday’s fire in hopes of preparing another drawing.

On Thursday, investigators were re-interviewing those who were in the library at the time of the fire to compare the information they provided, according to Bisson. That included 15 security guards.

Heavy Security

In recent weeks, according to library officials, four library department security guards are on duty inside the library, around the clock, with two guards hired from a private firm maintaining security outside the building.

In addition to the usual contingent of guards on duty Wednesday, however, the library’s chief of security, Fred Durhan, was there along with 10 trainees, who were being taught how to patrol the library. They were broken up into groups to walk along with regular guards.

“It’s a very confusing situation,” said City Librarian Jones. . . . “One of the walking crews had gone through the music room just 14 minutes before it happened.

“I just find it hard to believe that it would be a staff member. And our guards were touring in clusters. I can’t believe anyone who sees the sweat and the hard years it takes to put together even a modest collection could do something like this. Librarians are librarians because they believe in the importance of education and an enlightened society.”

Fire Alarm System Down

Jones expressed concern about security at the library now because the fire in April destroyed the library’s fire alarm system. Under the circumstances, he said, “We may buy police whistles and cowbells.”

Senior Librarian Cheryl Kiley, who is acting head of the music and art department, said that the library’s collection of about 2,400 orchestral scores escaped the flames because they had been removed to the reference stacks, which were not touched.

The scores are provided to community orchestras across half the state, but, now that is no longer possible, library officials said.

In the April fire, more than 360,000 volumes of the library’s 2 million volumes were destroyed; about 85% of the remaining collection has been removed in preparation for the opening of a temporary facility nearby.