[MSN] Washington DC: Library fire likely sparked by construction accident.

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Library fire likely sparked by construction accident
The Associated Press
2007-05-03 21:11:23.0
Current rank: # 1,710 of 9,340 

WASHINGTON - 
A fire that severely damaged the Georgetown public library and some of the
valuable documents inside likely was accidentally started by construction
workers, fire officials said Thursday.

The 72-year-old building was being renovated when the fire broke out Monday,
burning portions of the roof and damaging irreplaceable documents and
artworks in the Peabody Room.

A mechanical heating device in use at the time likely touched off the blaze,
said Alan Etter, a District of Columbia fire spokesman.

Officials had not come up with a damage estimate Thursday, Etter said,
because they had to take into account both the value of the building and at
the artifacts in the Peabody collection.

The collection includes valuable books, paintings, rare maps of Civil War
fortifications and copies of newspapers that contained stories about the
signing of the Declaration of Independence. It also includes files on every
home in Georgetown, a historic district.

Library officials have said that most of the items were not burned but did
sustain water damage, and that many could likely be salvaged.


http://www.examiner.com/