[Nhcoll-l] Fire Marshall Regulations

[John E Simmons]

"One important consideration is that in case of a large spill, floor drains
must not drain to the municipal sewer system, but go into a dedicated
holding tank. I don't know how that would handle water in case of
sprinklers going off as well."

Not all jurisdictions require you to have a holding tank. Depending on
local regulations and the water and drainage systems, in some places it is
preferable to wash the alcohol down the drain so that it becomes diluted in
the storm water system. Particularly if you have a sprinkler system for
fire control, it often makes more sense to dilute runoff and wash it away
than to concentrate it in a holding tank.

"Our main alcohol storage (offsite) has a CO2 fire suppression system..."

I do not recommend gas systems in general and particularly not for fluid
preserved collections. There are several drawbacks to gas systems,
including:
1. When the gas runs out, the fire protection also runs out. If the fire
has been suppressed, you're fine, but if it flares back up or did not go
out you are toast. With a sprinkler system, the water keeps flowing until
the flow is stopped, providing better protection and fire suppression, as
well as a means to dilute alcohol.

2. The gas system has to be activated for the entire room. With most
sprinkler systems, the heads are individually triggered by heat from the
fire.

3. The cylinders for storing the gas take up a lot of room.

4. The cost for re-charging a gas system can be extraordinarily high.

"...and no storage below grade. Does your HVAC have bottom draw air
returns?"

This is an important point because alcohol fumes are heavier than air and
thus accumulate at floor level.

I recommend looking at "Fire Program Management" by Bryan L. Stemen
(Chapter 3 in "Health and Safety for Museum Professionals," edited by Hawks
et al (2011).

Ultimately, Andy's advice is excellent--you need to establish a good
working relationship with whoever functions as the fire marshal for your
institution (could be a state, city, or university person). Sit down with
the fire marshal and explain what you do with fluid specimens, what safety
measures you take, and so forth so that a good compromise can be reached
that satisfies local regulations, safety requirements, and your need for
easy access to the collection. Keep in mind that every container of alcohol
rupturing at the same time is not a likely worst case scenario, but tipping
over a cart full of jars probably is.

As Andy mentioned, there are no tests to show what happens when a fluid
preserved collection catches fire. However, if you google the photos of the
fire that destroyed the fluid preserved specimens at Butantan institute in
May 2010, you can see that the jars did not explode, they shattered sitting
on the shelves.

I will attempt to attach a PDF of a few pages from "Fluid Preservation: A
Comprehensive Reference" that addresses fire safety. If the PDF does not
come through, contact me off-list and I can email it to you.

Good luck!

--John

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University



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