As we spend the year commemorating the centennial of Central Library, it's also necessary to acknowledge a less celebratory, but still important milestone—the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Central Library Fire. The blaze, which ignited shortly before 11 a.m. on April 29, took over seven hours to extinguish and claimed roughly 400,000 books due to fire, smoke, or water damage. The tragic event is often seen as the catalyst for renovating and expanding Central's footprint, but the truth is that the Library had already contracted with Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates for the remodel. In fact, when the fire broke out, lead architect Noman Pfeiffer was at Central Library meeting with Betty Gay Teoman, Director of Central Library Services, about the project. Even though the design plans were well underway in 1986, when the "new" Central Library opened on October 3, 1993, it did seem like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of that dark April day.
For Central 100, we've been taking a deep dive into the Los Angeles Public Library photo collection for undigitized Central Library photos. One set we recently uploaded to Tessa is the collection of images taken by photographers for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on that tragic day. Michael Haering, Leo Jarzomb, and Javier Mendoza were dispatched to cover the unfolding events on the ground while Chris Gulker captured a bird's-eye view from a helicopter. In the days and months that followed, Herald Examiner photographers continued to cover the cleanup and recovery, along with two additional fires. The images may document an unfathomably traumatic event, but also help remind us of the resiliency of Central Library and its staff, and how lucky we are to be celebrating a Century of the Light of Learning.
Aerial view of the Central Library Fire around 2 p.m. on April 29, 1986. The blaze broke out at approximately 10:52 a.m. and was not fully extinguished until 6:30 p.m. Chris Gulker/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
An injured fiirefighter is carried out of Central Library. The enormous fire required a virtual army to extinguish it, including 60 fire companies, 40 command officers and support personnel, 9 rescue ambulances, 4 salvage companies, 3 helicopters, 2 emergency air units, and 1 arson unit, for a total of almost 350 Fire Department and Paramedic personnel. Michael Haering/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
Librarians Billie Connor, Helene Mochedlover, and Katie Leidich sit across the street from Central Library during the fire. Leo Jarzomb/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
The Patents Room (currently Special Collections) was especially hard hit. Michael Haering/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
Mayor Tom Bradley and Lod Cook, chairman and CEO of ARCO, are pictured from behind at the podium during a post-Fire press conference in the History Department (now Children's Literature) at Central Library. The pair headed up a Blue Ribbon Committee for the Save the Books fundraising campaign
In the days following the Central Library Fire, hundreds of volunteers and staff members assembled boxes and packed up wet books to be sent offsite for freeze-drying. Here, messenger clerk Patrick Franz rests amid cardboard boxes for book packing. Javier Mendoza/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
Wet books were sent to the McDonnell Douglas facility in Huntington Beach, where they were freeze-dried in giant chambers. Mike Sergieff/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
A firefighter is seen through a window of the east wing, where a second unsolved arson fire broke out in September 1986, destroying much of the orchestrations collection. James Ruebsamen/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
A third fire broke out in October 1988 in the basement area. This time, the fire was accidental and was quickly extinguished. Javier Mendoza/Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection
