Arson Blamed for Library Fire

An arson blaze in an after-hours drop box over the weekend destroyed some books and left librarians at Ventura’s E.P. Foster Library cleaning up the smoke and water damage Monday.

Firefighters said someone stuffed burning papers inside the book return slot of the downtown library early Sunday, causing about $2,000 damage.

Library operations were not affected by the fire, which was reported about 4 a.m. and quickly put out by the Ventura Fire Department. The library will open on time today at 10 a.m.

“We’ll have to just close up the book drop when the library is closed, and that’s a real inconvenience for the public,” library manager Donna Roff said.

On Monday, Roff and other library employees were cleaning up after the fire, standing books on end to dry out, washing down walls turned ashen and wiping a thin film of ash from surfaces throughout the library.

Authorities were convinced that the fire was arson and were continuing their search for a suspect.

“This fire was caused by somebody shoving some papers inside the book return slot and igniting them,” Fire Capt. Glenn True said.

Firefighters were returning from a blaze on West Harrison Avenue when the alarm at the library went off, said Battalion Chief Mike Lavery. The fire was extinguished in about three minutes. Damage to the East Main Street structure was confined to a small area at the front of the building, but there was some smoke damage throughout the library, authorities said.

No one was injured in the blaze.

“I think we were lucky. We stayed open until 5 p.m. Saturday, so that means the only books returned came in between then and 4 a.m. Sunday,” Roff said.

It was not clear how many books were destroyed, but Roff found some that had been dropped through the slot that were burned beyond use. In addition, some books were damaged by the water used to put out the fire, but they were being aired out on Monday.

“It’s too bad, with the fiscal constraints we operate under, to have things like this happen because it means taking what little we have and using it to fix the damage,” Roff said.

Books may still be returned when the library is closed to the Avenue Library, 807 N. Ventura Ave., and the H.P. Wright Library, 57 Day Road.