Fire Safety and Suppression

Statement of Purpose

This section includes information related to fire safety and suppression within natural history museums.

Contributors

Fishes and Herps

Content generated during The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Annual Joint Meeting - 2016, during an iDigBio sponsored workshop by the following individuals participating in the "Museum Logistics" working group of the aforementioned workshop:

• Andy Bentley - University of Kansas, Collection Manager - Fishes
• Brian Sidlauskas - Oregon State University, Curator of Fishes
• Caleb McMahan - The Field Museum, Collection Manager of Fishes
• Norma Salcedo - College of Charleston, Professor
• Dean Hendrickson - The University of Texas at Austin, Curator of Fishes
• Alexandra Snyder - Museum of Southwestern Biology - Fishes, Collections Manager

Fluid Collections (Fishes and Herps)

• Fire code mandates numerous building and facility design elements.

• No specific fire or building code for natural history museums exists, so each local fire marshal and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) officer will interpret the general codes and set a local policy.

2015 International Building Code (IBC) http://codes.iccsafe.org/app/book/toc/2015/I-Codes/2015%20IBC%20HTML/

2015 International Fire Code (IFC) http://codes.iccsafe.org/app/book/toc/2015/I-Codes/2015_IFC_HTML/index.html

Then there are country, state and county specific codes under these.

• In the US there is:

National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) - NFPA 909 Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties — Museums, Libraries, and Places of Worship 2009 Edition http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/AboutTheCodes/909/909-F2008-ROP.pdf

General concerns revolve around storage temperature (lower reduces risk), ventilation rates, volume of alcohol/room volume, limits on height of shelves, etc., but each country and state will have local variations that need to be taken into consideration. Thus, it is critical for each collection manager to work closely with the fire marshal and EHS and to build a good working relationship. Bring them in at the beginning of the process if you are going to be designing a new building or moving into new space, and maintain regular contact. Regulations and interpretations of code can change, and a continued dialogue can help avoid surprises.