Big boxes of pizza were scattered across the almond-shaped table in the main room of the historic Homewood branch of Carnegie Library, giving the air the sweet, pungent aroma of tomato sauce, cheese and sausage mingled with smoke.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Firefighters work yesterday on the burned-out roof of the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library. A $3.6 million renovation and restoration of the library, which opened in 1910, was completed last year. Click photo for larger image.

"It smells like a barbecue in here," said Nancy Lewis, graphics manager for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, who'd come to drop off a freshly made sign announcing that the library would be closed until further notice.

By late yesterday afternoon, library staffers sharing the pizza with restoration workers could afford a little levity, for the fire that might have been a landmark loss had been confined to the roof, thanks to alert neighbors and a small army of Pittsburgh firefighters.

A fire that likely had been smoldering for hours, firefighters say, began to send smoke through the library's roof into the night sky early this morning.

As they entered, firefighters carried tarps, which they used to cover computers and stacks of books on the first floor to shield them from water damage. Fortunately, they weren't needed.

Designed by the Pittsburgh firm Alden & Harlow, the brown brick and limestone Homewood library became the city's largest branch library when it opened in 1910. A $3.6 million renovation and restoration was completed last year.

Firefighters were walking between the ceiling and the roof yesterday, trying to find hot spots amid the charred rafters.

Somewhere up there, the attic was still giving off what one called "live smoke," and firefighters were called back twice to hunt it down.

On the first floor, Paul Plubell surveyed the walls with a thermal imaging camera, which detected a damp area where water had run down behind one of the oak pilasters in the lobby.

"We'll be able to address the water in that area before it becomes a problem," said Scott Jones, vice president of the disaster restoration company G.S. Jones & Sons.

Workers from Massaro Co., general contractor for the recent renovation, already were repairing the lock on the library's original paneled oak doors, which bore two long gashes and a mangled brass knob from the axe firefighters had to use to open them.

No windows were broken, and the only change to the lobby's grand, leaded glass skylight was that more daylight filtered through it, courtesy of the hole in the roof.

The fire, thought to have been electrical, caused an estimated $70,000 in damage, Fire Chief Michael Huss said. But Carnegie Library officials still are working on a detailed damage estimate for the building, which is the vibrant heart of the Homewood community. Its collection of more than 35,000 items, including 12,000 in the African-American collection, suffered some smoke and humidity damage.

The library will be closed for at least a week; patrons were encouraged to use the nearby East Liberty branch at 130 S. Whitfield St. They will not be charged fines for overdue books not returned next week.