Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)
Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - STEWART, William J.: Summary of Discussions
266 William J. Stewart damage when they appear on the scene. How? The force of their high pressure fire hose acts much like a hydraulic ram and can blow your stacks apart. Several months ago, by means of telephone interviews, a colleague and I inquired into the fire safety trends in the United States and Canada. Our contacts on this occasion were limited to archivists involved in new archival construction or renovation projects in the past six or seven years. Most (75%) have installed or are installing a wet pipe sprinkler system, either throughout the building or in the document storage area. Half of the respondents report some coverage by the gas suppressant, Halon 1301, with three archives opting to use the gas throughout their stacks. The others employ halon to protect vault areas only, where they maintain valuable artifacts, tape, rare books, and founding documents. When queried about their preference for a sprinkler system over a gas suppressant, every respondent cited economics as the determinant, the high cost of halon hardware and extinguishing agent being the reason they chose as they did. Sprinklers were not the first choice of anyone with whom we spoke. There is now a proven safe sprinkler but not many archivists are prepared to accept that fact. People who should know better continue to believe it is only a matter of time before the system malfunctions and causes great damage. In answer to a further inquiry, a number of respondents did state that their institutions had suffered water damage in the past. And here is the irony. In no instance was that water damage the result of fire suppressant equipment. Instead, it was caused by faulty air conditioning, steam radiators, plumbing, and bad roof. Clearly, the fire suppressant system most favored by North American archivists is the gas, Halon 1301. At this time its high cost limits it application to those situations where value density is high. So far, its application has been confined to modest-sized spaces up to 50,000 square feet (which I make to be about 4,600 square meters). For anyone contemplating installing halon, two admonitions are in order. One, there is a definite need for discharge tests, because there are too many opportunities for system failure, due either to poor design or defective installation. If improperly wired, any number of faults are possible. A second concern in evaluating halon is to understand that it is not effective if you have a smouldering fire or a deep-seated one. A last observation. Too often, discussions of fire protection seem to emphasize the concern for property over care for people. In preventive planning there are three essentials to remember for people safety: (1) properly marked exit routes from the stacks, (2) independent source lighting throughout the building, and (3) a public address system instead of a bell or a horn for the dissemination of intelligent information. In conclusion, I should like to see architects and archivists give fire safety equal consideration in the design of an archive, along with all other sub systems such as structural, mechanical, and electrical. A defense against fire should be worked out, not simply in compliance with building codes but according to engineering methodology.
