Two firefighters die in blaze at California library: sheriff

[February 19, 2020]    (Reuters) - Two firefighters died as they tried to put out a blaze at a library in central California late on Tuesday, the sheriff said.

Crews reached the library in the city of Porterville soon after 4 p.m., emergency services said.

"Prayers for the Porterville City Fire Department. They have lost two brave men," Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux wrote on Facebook.

The 1950s building did not have a sprinkler system, a spokeswoman for the Tulare County Fire Department said.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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