Little Free Library Fire Devastates Community, 6 Books Lost, 4 Still Missing

RICHMOND, Va. – Residents of Richmond’s Northside neighborhood awoke Sunday to reports of a devastatingly small early morning fire on the corner of Claremont and MacArthur Avenues completely destroying a Little Free Library.

The mini-blaze began sometime around 2 a.m. and lasted until sometime around 2:10 a.m. before firefighters arrived on the scene. Officials recorded six books lost to fire and smoke damage while search and rescue teams are still looking for four books reported missing.

“This is just a terrible tragedy for the community,” commented Lieutenant Joe Ortega. “It’s a sad reminder to tell your loved ones how much you care about them.”

Fire marshals are looking into why the mini-sprinkler system didn’t activate at the time of the itty-bitty fire. “We’ve got a fairly modest investigation ahead of us but we’re not ready to rule out foul play just yet,” commented Capt. Sally McDonough, adding “Could’ve been lightning catching a fart, could’ve been arson. We won’t know for about 20, maybe 30 minutes.”

As of press time a GoFundMe campaign had raised $15,000 towards a new Tiny Free Library.

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