Emergency workers have extinguished a massive fire at the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences library in Moscow. The last flames were put out on January 31, around 11:30 p.m., local time. The fire, which started on Friday evening, January 30, raged for almost 28 hours.
Thanks to the quick and professional actions of fire-rescue teams, the flames were put out completely by 11:30 p.m., January 31. The fire was difficult to extinguish because of risks that the structure might collapse, and extremely high temperatures and narrow passageways inside the building.
The fire consumed roughly 2,000 square meters (22,000 square feet) of the library, causing about half that size of the roof to collapse.
According to specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), the fire damaged or destroyed more than 1.5 million books (about 15 percent of the library’s total archives).
A preliminary investigation suggests a short circuit in the library’s electrical equipment started the fire. RAN President Vladimir Fortov says investigators are not considering arson.