BURBANK : Library Will Install Fire-Security System

The central Burbank public library will ask for bids at the end of the month to install a fire alarm/security system to protect the facility’s collection of 300,000 books.

Fire damage became a concern after the Los Angeles Central Library was destroyed by fire several years ago, and the issue was further underscored by the fires during the Los Angeles riots two years ago, said Sandra Christopher, Burbank’s acting library director.

Last year, the city approved $100,000 for a new alarm and public address system at the prompting of the Fire Department, which said the library is vulnerable to serious losses.

The company chosen will install smoke alarms with a security system and replace the 30-year-old public address system.

The current public address system is a problem because it does not reach the entire library, Christopher said.

The speakers are only in public areas of the library and cannot be heard in restrooms or storerooms, she said.

“We have no way to reach the entire library (in an emergency), except to send someone to run around,” Christopher said.

The Fire Department had recommended either sprinklers or smoke alarms for the library, but sprinklers were rejected because of the potential for water damage to books, Christopher said. Plus, the city’s fire headquarters is less than a block away from the library on Glenoaks Boulevard.

But city officials do not have a schedule for when the new systems would be installed.

“I’m hoping it would be by the end of the summer,” Christopher said.