Fort Riley firefighters lend aid to Manhattan at library fire

By Andy Massanet, Fort Riley Public AffairsJune 11, 2018

Firefighters for the Fort Riley Fire Emergency Services helped their counterparts from Manhattan, Kansas, battled a fire May 22.
Firefighters from Manhattan and surrounding areas respond to a fire May 22 at Farrell Library on the K-State campus. Fort Riley firefighters assisted the Manhattan (Kansas) Fire Department in combating the fire, which occurred at Kansas State Univers... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT RILEY, Kan. -- A team of Fort Riley firefighters assisted the Manhattan (Kansas) Fire Department in combating a fire at Kansas State University's Hale Library May 22.

According to a story published May 25 on the Manhattan Mercury website, the Manhattan Fire Department said the fire was apparently a result of roofing work on the building.

Firefighting efforts focused on the northwestern portion of a wing of the library known as Farrell Library. No injuries were reported, but damage was extensive, with much of K-State's online availability disrupted.

As many as 17 different organizations responded to the fire, according to a report filed by WIBW TV in Topeka, Kansas.

The station quoted K-State's president, Richard B. Myers, as saying he saw it as an opportunity for the university to build a stronger future.

"Our land-grant ethos requires that we take setbacks in stride and continue to strive for growth and progress," Myers said. "The fire in Hale Library brought out the best in our family and community. City, county, state, military and other agencies had our backs, with firefighting, emergency management and support."

In a large fire, such as the one at Kansas State, the on-scene commander can usually tell early on if more assets are required, said Ryan Trudo, battalion chief for the Fort Riley Fire Emergency Services, who led the team.

"As early as they can, they want to start calling and getting those extra resources coming in," he said. "And maybe (those additional resources) will backfill a station. Just because all your resources are sunk into one (fire) doesn't mean the rest are going to stop. But what we do depends on what they call for."

The FRFES unit began work at Manhattan's fire station number two to perform that kind of backfill mission, Trudo said, because all the Manhattan assets were at the library fire, but things quickly changed.

"We were going to be running their calls from the Riley County Dispatch so we set up our communication networks," Trudo said. "But then as soon as we got there they realized they were going to need another wave of people so we went right in (to the fire) from there."

Seven FRFES firefighters responded to the fire and spent around five or six hours on scene, Trudo said and they followed the guidance from the command post the Manhattan fire chief had already set up.

When fighting a fire each firefighter is issued two bottles of oxygen Trudo said.

"They used one bottle, then took a rest period, then they used another bottle," Trudo said. "Then they came down and they have to do a formal rehab. That's where Riley County will do medical monitoring, check all their vital signs, they drink fluids and then they check all their vital signs again, before (the firefighter) can cycle back in. But those cycles on the bottle can be pretty long sometimes and they had us doing some pretty hard work."

Once the fire was doused, the FRFES personnel again rehabbed with the Riley County medical staff then went into the basement.

"At that point the whole building was filled of smoke and water," Trudo said. "And they began salvage operations for their equipment room and all the servers and things like that ... basically trying to save property."

According to the Manhattan Mercury report, people in Hale Library first reported seeing smoke in the building at 4:10 p.m. Officials evacuated the building and the sprinklers.

Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, K-State said the firefighters had contained the fire.

Farrell Library is a portion of K-State's Hale Library and houses the Great Room, a large study hall with a vaulted ceiling. The university shut down some online services because the fire affected the data center housed at the library.

As of June 4, all of the central K-State websites and web services had been restored with the exception of the K-State Today web page and some access to the university's non-content management offerings.