SAULT STE. MARIE — Scorched romance novels were pretty much all that was left after an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny downtown library fire Tuesday.
Sault Ste. Marie firefighters rushed at 5:34 a.m. to a Queen Street parkette in the parking lot behind the Holiday Inn Express, beside Soo Blaster, after a bystander noticed smoke coming from a 'little free library' kiosk.
The little hut invites downtown denizens to take a book, and to leave another for other patrons.
It took Fire Services about five minutes to reach the scene and extinguish the literary conflagration.
When SooToday arrived at the scene later in the day, we found the wooden kiosk was largely untouched by the flames, but three torrid romance volumes remained.
One of them, Canadian Kiss by Christine Carson promised to spellbind us with the tale of golden-haired Sara, who tracked down her husband's killer but then found herself "drowned in his ardent kisses, flamed at the touch of his strong body against her yearning flesh."
Less than half an hour after the initial call, firefighters were called to a second small blaze up the street, this time in a trash barrel in front of Soo Dance Unlimited at 258 Queen St. E.
That fire was put down within five minutes and Fire Services contacted the city's public works department to tell them the barrel was no longer usable and needed to be replaced.
