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MANHATTAN — Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Manhattan Fire Department are continuing their work to determine the cause of Tuesday’s fire at Hale Library.
According to Ryan Almes with the Manhattan Fire Department, at 4:10 p.m, Fire crews were dispatched to 1117 Mid-Campus Drive, Hale Library, on the Kansas State University campus for a report of smoke on the fourth floor. Upon arrival, crews found a four-story section of the building with smoke showing from the roof. The fire reached a third alarm before it was contained in approximately two hours and controlled in four hours. A total of 70 firefighters responded on 12 fire apparatus with the last units still on scene Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported to occupants or firefighters. Hale Library will be closed until further notice.
Hale Library is the main Kansas State University library. It was dedicated in 1997 after a multiyear renovation and expansion project of the original campus library building, Farrell Library, which opened in 1927. Hale Library has more than 400,000 square feet of space and has more than two million books in its collection. The fire occurred in the roof of the original Farrell Library, in an area containing several large air handling units and proved very difficult for firefighters to gain access to extinguish the fire. Damage estimates are not available at this time. Fire damage was limited to a portion of the roof, with extensive water and smoke damage throughout the structure.
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UPDATE:
Firefighters were called to Hale Library at K-State about 4:10 p.m.Tuesday after receiving a report of smoke in the top floors of the library and the alarms had sounded. The building was evacuated and no one was injured.
That information was provided by Jeff Morris, Vice President for Communication and Marketing at KSU, who said the Manhattan Fire Department and Riley County Police Department initially responded to the scene. “Started to fight the fire and then as the evening progressed they brought in additional forces. At the peak we’ve had about 70 people fighting the fire.” Other Departments sending assistance included the Fort Riley Fire Department, Blue Township, Riley County EMS and the Red Cross also provided support for the firefighters.
Morris said the fire occurred in the old Farrell portion of the library. “It was in the top floor somewhere between the top floor and the roof.” Authorities believe the fire occurred in the attic area, and Morris confirmed there was a lot of smoke and water damage. “We saw a lot of smoke. They had to fight the fire from the roof. They had to go to the roof and come in from the outside. They were not effective trying to do it from inside.” Seven fire department ladder trucks to help firefighters get up to the roof area to battle the blaze.
The fire was contained and the building will remain closed until further notice. No one was injured. “We have notified the employees they do not need to report to work tomorrow. Once we get into the building we’ll be able to ascertain the damage, start the rescue operation for a lot of materials. We store a lot of valuable things in our library, so we’re going to go through and ascertain what we can save and what we need to do and then what we need to do next in terms of mitigation for the damage.”
The cause of the blaze and the damage estimate are still unknown. Morris noted they were fortunate that the fire was mostly contained to one part of the building.
Morris said officials were glad that classes were not in session so campus is not highly populated at the present time….a good thing in terms of the safety of people. “It was a very orderly evacuation and the systems worked as they were supposed to, which is a good thing.”
The Farrell Library portion of the building was built in 1927.
( Photos courtesy of Ashley Warren and Scott Olesky )
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MANHATTAN —Crews have contained the fire at Hale Library on the Kansas State University campus. The building will remain closed until further notice.
Seventy firefighters and emergency personnel combined were on the scene from multiple departments battling the fire at library Tuesday.
They include Fort Riley, and Manhattan Fire Department. No injuries have been reported. The building was evacauted.
Firefighters were focused on extinguishing the top of the blaze at the northeast corner of the building.
There is no word on what caused the fire.
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Fire crews from Manhattan and Fort Riley responded to the scene of a fire at Hale Library on the K-State campus in Manhattan.
No injuries were reported. The building was evacuated late Tuesday afternoon.