Books' worst enemy: FIRE

As reported in The Columbian, a fire next door to Cover to Cover Books ravaged the locally owned book shop with smoke and water damage. They are temporarily closed, but both owner Mel, and the owner of Mel--Smedley the cat, escaped unharmed.

Mel sent us this update:

We won't have power for at least a few days, and I will be meeting the adjuster later today to see what's what. Last night it was a mess, ceiling tiles down everywhere, water and smoke damage. Not sure how bad the books are, but there was no fire in our suite, just stink, some water damage, and mess of other sorts. Smeds and I got out just fine, along with most of the electronics. Luckily it was before our Open Microphone, so there was just me and the cat in the store at the time.

Probably need to scratch the author faire in December. I have no idea how long the business will be sidelined, but I expect at least a month, actually, and I won't have any extra oomph to keep that rolling while we assess the mess and get a new ceiling and flooring and whatever else.

*sigh*

It's always something. The irony is that last night while we were salvaging paperwork by flashlight, I found the inspection report and invoice from our annual fire extinguisher inspection: all 3 extinguishers were fine! Not that we had fire, but still. IRONY, WE HAVE IT.

Mel

We'll keep you posted on alternative location for the November Vancouver Writers Mixer as soon as we have secured space. In the meantime, our best wishes are with Mel and all the friends of Cover to Cover Books.