An old hot plate that turned on too easily may have caused the fire that engulfed the Dunn (N.C.) Library June 12. Library Director Deborah Melvin said staff members rarely used the hot plate, but someone could have accidentally bumped it and turned it on, the Fayetteville News reported June 15.
The fire began some time after the library closed for the day at 2 p.m. A worker at the nearby fire station heard a window break at 5:30 and saw flames shooting from the library. Volunteers were able to salvage many of the soot-coated books the next day. Workers piled stacks of boxes on the sidewalk in front of the library and readied them for a professional cleaning firm, Melvin said, noting that the facility will probably be remodeled. Until the clean-up and repairs are completed, the library will occupy a room in a former school.
Though Melvin has worked at the library for 10 years, she took over as the new library director June 15. “They say it’s a trial by fire; if I get through this, I’ll be OK,” she said.
Posted June 21, 1999.