Email message 1:
UMaine emergency alert
Wed, May 5, 2021, 10:18 PM
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE <umaine.alerts(at)maine.edu>
to me
A message from UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
Orono Fire Department responded just after 9 tonight to a report of a small fire between the first and second floors in Fogler Library. Building evacuated; no injuries reported. Library closed until further notice.
Email message 2:
UMaine emergency alert
Thu, May 6, 2021, 11:47 AM
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE <umaine.alerts(at)maine.edu>
to me
A message from UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
Last night's fire in Fogler Library was the result of arson and is under investigation by the Office of the State Fire Marshal. UMaine PD and the Division of Student Life are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible. Call 207.581.4040 or go online to report.
Fogler Library reopened this morning at 10 after the incident just after 9 p.m. May 5. The building was evacuated, no injuries were reported. Some areas of the building are closed for cleaning and maintenance.
Seriously. After everything the University has been through over the past three semesters, some asshole set the library on fire late on the Wednesday night of finals week. Fortunately, it seems not to have gotten out of hand. Based on the description ("between the first and second floors"), I presume the fire took place in the weird first-and-a-half-floor area where the bound periodicals are kept. That would make some sense, as it's one of the most out-of-the-way corners of the library, and I'm sure has been used for all sorts of, eh... unobserved activities over the years.
I hope whoever did it is caught, and I hope they catch a beating in the process. Fuck you, whoever you are.
--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
>It also could, and hopefully does, mean that the fire was in a
>stairwell.A fine hope, but unfortunately, my original guess seems to have been right. According to the Bangor Daily News, it was in the bound periodicals stacks. They lost about 50 volumes to the fire itself, and an unspecified further number damaged by fire extinguisher chemicals and water. Someone managed to put the fire out before the sprinklers went off and ruined everything in the room, but they did prestage (dry-pipe system) and one of the pipes leaked. :/
There's a lot of very obscure stuff in the bound periodicals stacks at the Fogler. A lot of those volumes had probably never been looked at once since they were prepared and shelved there... but someday, someone's going to need something that was in one of them, and it won't be available. That makes me sad and angry.
--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.