LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Little Rock’s Sue Cowan Williams Library is recovering from last week’s fire, which the Little Rock Fire Department ruled an attempted arson.
“The fire marshals did conduct an investigation,” Little Rock Fire Capt. Jacob Lear-Sadowsky said. “They spoke with the staff of the library, and they did determine and discover a person of interest that they'd like to speak to in regards to these fires.”
The fire began on Aug. 25 in a utility closet, but according to Nate Coulter with the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), the suspect actually entered the building the night before.
"No one was in the building, we thought,” Coulter said. “But this individual, the suspect, was apparently hiding in the ceiling by the ceiling tile in the men's restroom."
Coulter said this knowledge was gained from surveillance footage that showed the suspect entering the restroom “a little before closing time” but not coming out while staff performed its final check of the building.
The fire began the next afternoon, and Lear-Sadowsky said his team responded immediately.
“Crews were able to knock down the fire very quickly,” Lear-Sadowsky said. “It was a small fire that had not developed yet. It was estimated that there's $15,000 worth of damage via smoke to the structure and the books.”
But the situation could've been much worse.
According to library staff, the suspect wasn't able to enter the main area of the library because an access door was locked.
Even so, Lear-Sadowsky said they attempted to cause more damage than they did in the area they could get to.
"There were multiple locations within the building where fires were attempted to be set, but they were unsuccessful,” Lear-Sadowsky said. “Examples of that would be the men's restroom, the women's restroom, another utility closet and the hallway."
Lear-Sadowsky said the one fire that was set was small and able to be put out with a fire extinguisher, and no injuries were reported.
As a result, the library was forced to close temporarily.
“They're taking apart the HVAC equipment and cleaning all that,” Coulter said. “A small fire in an enclosed building can do a lot of damage in terms of smoke and things that get in the air and then land on the books. So, we've done an extensive job.”
Coulter added that it’s a disappointing turn of events for a building that recently reopened in April after finishing some big-time renovations.
He added that as many as 15 people have been working at a time since the closure to make the necessary repairs so that the library can reopen.
"We're sad that it had to shut down for about 10 days,” Coulter said. “We know when we reopen that the community will again embrace this library because it's a fantastic library."
Coulter said the library is expected to reopen on Sept. 5, but he said more work needs to be done before this can happen.