Wicomico County Public Library Temporarily Closed
MARYLAND – Fire Trucks were parked just across the street earlier today outside the Wicomico County Public Library.
Summer Reading is currently at a standstill at the Wicomico Public Library. Not only is there sizzling heat, but the air conditioning is smoking too. Smoky vents isn’t what library member Erica Weikle expected this morning while using the computers. Officials say early July 8th, there was a small electrical fire. “All of a sudden somebody realized there was some kind of smoke and something was coming out of the vents. and then they were yelling, ‘pull the alarm!’ and rushing everybody out.”
Seth Hershberger, the library’s Executive Director, agrees this was also not what he expected either. He says they sent everyone home for the day and it’s going to take more than just electric to get things rolling again. “So we had a lot of smoke coming into the library so we had to evacuate the entire library… We had one of our main units for the air conditioning gave out, and when we turned it back on it started blowing smoke through the vent… We’re going to have to figure out how to ventilate the building before we can re-open.”
Salisbury Fire Department was on the scene right away, and Deputy Fire Chief Darrin Scott says the risk of heat-related illness is serious so everyone should try to stay in the shade. “Firefighters entered the roof to find a burnt motor in the air conditioning unit. the library will have to be closed… The units are just running as hard as they can go, and it’s a lot on the air conditioning unit itself.”
Seth says he’s sorry they can’t provide the community refuge at this time. “We know folks rely on the library, especially as a place to cool down right now, so we’re sorry that that’s not going to be available today.” Library officials had electricians on site within hours, and they say they’re working hard to get things back up and running. In the meantime, they say the community center is still open for people who need to cool off.
