Original Material
Moscow firefighters extinguish massive library blaze
Emergency workers have extinguished a massive fire at the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences library in Moscow. The last flames were put out on January 31, around 11:30 p.m., local time. The fire, which started on Friday evening, January 30, raged for almost 28 hours.
Thanks to the quick and professional actions of fire-rescue teams, the flames were put out completely by 11:30 p.m., January 31. The fire was difficult to extinguish because of risks that the structure might collapse, and extremely high temperatures and narrow passageways inside the building.
- The fire consumed roughly 2,000 square meters (22,000 square feet) of the library, causing about half that size of the roof to collapse.
- According to specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), the fire damaged or destroyed more than 1.5 million books (about 15 percent of the library’s total archives).
- A preliminary investigation suggests a short circuit in the library’s electrical equipment started the fire. RAN President Vladimir Fortov says investigators are not considering arson.