California: Two Firefighters Dead in Public Library Fire, Two 13-Year-Olds Arrested

Updated February 24, 2020

Library Staff Showed Their Heroism: Staff Also Share Their Recollections (via The Porterville Recorder)

Recollections from library staff and part-time employees after the complete loss of the Porterville City Library due to a fire on Tuesday, February 18 showed training and quick thinking proved them to be heroes.

Updated February 21, 2020 

Other Tulare County Libraries Vow To Help Fire-Ravaged Porterville Library (via Visalia Times-Delta)

Hundreds Turn Out For Remembrance of Fallen Porterville Firefighters (via Fresno Bee)

Updated February 20, 2020

Chief: Firefighters Died Ensuring No One Was In Porterville Library; Department Stands Down (via Fresno Bee)

A visibly distraught and fatigued Porterville Fire Chief Dave Lapere on Thursday lauded fallen firefighters Ramon “Ray” Figueroa and Patrick Jones as “consummate professionals” who died trying to ensure no one was trapped inside the city library during a raging fire.

Video: Chief Addresses Deaths of Firefighters In Porterville Library Blaze (via Fresno Bee)

End Update

From NBC News:

Two 13-year-old boys have been arrested in connection to a fire that engulfed a California city’s public library and left one firefighter dead and another missing, authorities said Wednesday.

The fire broke out at around 4 p.m. Tuesday at the library in Porterville, a city of around 60,000 in California’s Central Valley, about 70 miles southeast of Fresno, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said.

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See Also: ‘We are a Strong Community’: What Does the Loss of Porterville Library Mean? (via Visalia Times-Delta)

See Also: Porterville Public Library on Facebook 
Includes Statement from California State Library