The downtown library has reopened to the public — but not the basement bathrooms, which sustained “significant damage” during an emergency situation Thursday morning.
As SooToday reported yesterday, first responders were called to the James L. McIntyre Centennial Library after a woman climbed into the basement ceiling and needed to be freed.
“Paramedics, police and firefighters worked together to safely extricate the patron, who was in a state of mental health crisis, but the process necessitated significant damage to the basement bathrooms,” says a news release issued Friday by the library.
The main-floor bathrooms remain open but they are not wheelchair accessible — which means until repairs are complete, the library is not able to offer accessible washrooms to patrons.
First responders worked for over 30 minutes to remove the woman from a "difficult to access area" of the library, Sault Police spokesperson Lincoln Louttit said yesterday. They were seen bringing various items into the library basement, including two ladders and a high-powered saw.
First responders cut through the masonry and part of the ceiling to eventually free the woman, said Matthew MacDonald, CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.
Work has been done recently to identify where there may be asbestos in the almost 60-year-old building. MacDonald said he believes the risk of exposure after yesterday's damage would be low.
As SooToday previously reported, security issues have worsened at the downtown library. Last year, staff concerns about an aggressive, threatening man outside resulted in a facility lockdown and a complaint to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
When incidents occur, MacDonald said his primary focus is on keeping his staff and the public safe.
"We have had other incidents of overdoses and disturbances in the washrooms, but this is the most severe,” he said yesterday. “We also know that this is going to costly affect other peoples’ perception of the library of the safe place, which is really unfortunate because we try to make it as safe a place as possible.”