DC government is blaming the fire in Georgetown library last April on Dynamic Corp., a Maryland-based construction company. The city’s suing for $13 million, which is a pretty good deal considering restoration was expected cost from $15 to $20 million.

According to the lawsuit, the fire was started by Dynamic employees with heat guns. I had never heard of heat guns, but they sound pretty useful: “It has 2 heat settings, 500 or 1020 degress Farenheit. This versatile device strips paint and varnish, thaws frozen pipes, softens adhesives for removal of linoleum and floor tile, and quick dries almost anything.” This one is only $24.99, which makes me wonder why we don’t all have them.

For its part, Dynamic seems unperturbed by the lawsuit. Its website has a fondness for stock photos and phaser sounds, and it still lists DC government as a “valued client.”

Besides heat guns, the secret star of the fire is the bookmobile that serviced Georgetown afterward. The bus is 40-feet long and has wireless internet. That even sounds like a good idea for Georgetown students, forced to choose between long lines in the bookstore or getting mugged at Lauinger.

Georgetown library photo from Flickr user Slack13

-Will Sommer, blog editor

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 1:01 pm and is filed under District News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.