Failure to Make Upgrades Cited in Eastern Market Fire

Rubin said electrical engineers and other investigators, including agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, are carefully sifting through the Eastern Market to identify what sparked the blaze. Rubin added that the walls of the market are "reasonably structurally sound."

Despite the problems, Fenty encouraged people to visit the Eastern Market this weekend for the regularly scheduled flea market. The outdoor vendors will be selling food and other wares Saturday, and Sunday is the annual Market Day celebration.

The cause of the library fire, which broke out about noon Monday, has not been determined, but Rubin said it probably was not arson. The building is in bad shape, with a large crack in the facade on the R Street side, and firefighters were not able to get into parts of it to fully investigate, officials said.

The ceiling in the Peabody Room, which held the library's most valuable collection, is intact, and 80 percent of the collection is safe, fire officials said. There is significant damage to the north and south walls, and the roof needs to be replaced.

On the east side of the library, which was not as badly damaged, people were still retrieving books and documents yesterday.

Fenty said he is committed to restoring the branch and preserving the "honor and history of the community."

Neither the market nor the library was equipped with sprinklers, which were not required in either case because of the building's age. The market was built in 1873, the library in 1935.

Even if the law does not require it, Vincent Brannigan, a University of Maryland professor of fire-protection engineering, said both buildings should have had sprinkler systems.

He said libraries can have low-pressure sprinklers that cause less damage to papers and other important materials.

Staff writers Elissa Silverman and Susan Levine and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.