Orcutt Union School District Superintendent Sharon McHolland called the situation “devastating,” noting that while the library didn’t burn completely, everything in it was destroyed, the Lompoc Record reported May 19.
Damage was estimated at $60,000 for the building and from $50,000 to $70,000 for the library’s book collection. However, “that doesn’t count anything else like computers or reference materials,” school Principal Liz Herbstreith told the Daily Nexus, the campus newspaper of the University of California at Santa Barbara.
A Pine Grove Fund has been started to collect donations. “Parents and community members have definitely helped out, offering money and books,” Herbstreith said.
Posted May 21, 2004.