Cochrane Fire Services and Cochrane RCMP responded to a call of a minor fire at the Cochrane Public Library just after 3 p.m. today (Wednesday). Shawn Polley, deputy fire chief, said a cigarette butt had been discarded in rain barrel on the west side of the building. The library was temporarily closed during the incident but there is no damage to the building. "The crew is doing an investigation. Basically, it came in as a rain barrel on fire," Polley said. "It's been burning for a little while, just smoldering away. It wasn't really all that obvious." A witness to the fire said they smelled smoke while returning books to the library. After discovering smoke and a small fire in the rain barrel, they called emergency services. "Disposal of smoking materials - they've caused a lot of fires actually. It's good to make sure you're disposing of smoking material in a proper bin and location. That's not one, unfortunately," Polley said. The smell of smoke and melted plastic still hangs in the air surrounding the library but is not cause for concern.
