Baldwin library closing was false alarm

It’s safe to go back to the library. That’s the message coming from the staff of the Baldwin Public Library following an emergency closure of the facility last week.

Just before 11 a.m. on Jan. 4, a trio of Children’s Department staffers at the library simultaneously reported headaches and blurry vision, according to Catherine Overton, the library’s assistant director. “Because we had multiple people reporting the same symptoms at the same time,” Overton recounted, “we called the Fire Department right away.”

“The call came in reporting a number of people feeling ill at the library,” said Baldwin F.D. Chief Kevin Smith. “We were initially dispatched with just an ambulance, but then we evacuated about 30 people from the building and set up a medical command post. We also sent truck companies to test the air in the building.”

The Police Department also responded to the call. “When officers arrived, there were people feeling ill and they called for an ambulance,” said officer Maureen Roach. “We also summoned emergency services to inspect the building.”

“Both the Fire Department and the police arrived very quickly and helped us empty the building,” Overton said. “They screened the staff members who’d originally reported having headaches but didn’t find anything wrong with them. A few people who’d been in the building tested for elevated levels of carbon monoxide, but it wasn’t thought to be due to anything in the library. One of them was a smoker, for example. A hazmat team from Nassau County also came and tested the air and said there wasn’t anything wrong.”

With test results from numerous sources turning out negative, officials on the scene advised library administrators that it would be safe to reopen to the public, but Overton and her colleagues elected to keep the facility closed for additional testing.

The library’s heating and ventilation maintenance firm, Quinn & Feiner Service Company Inc., inspected the mechanical systems and found them in proper operating condition. In addition, an independent air quality testing company, Enviroscience Consultants, was summoned to test for the presence of potentially dangerous gases.