Fire and alcohol collections

I am writing to ask for help in the form of information. Please
forward this as you think appropriate.

In our building expansion plan, space for compactorization of all
our ethanol-based collections (primarily herpetology, but also
marine invertebrates and some teaching materials) has been allocated
on the new basement floor. We are now scheduled to make an
appearance before a board of appeals to defend this. Technically,
these collections must be on the ground floor, but that space is
dedicated for/to programs and exhibits.

The board of appeals feels that this could be a major fire hazard
and may require that we place the collection off-site permanently.
We do not want to separate the collections from the researchers and
can in no way afford to set up a satellite museum.

We have an engineer consulting with us on fire safety who will be
making the presentation. I am writing to ask for any documentation,
slides, or anecdotal accounts you may have on the relative safety of
ethanol collections in purpose-built safe storage. I need to bring
the engineer up to speed very quickly so that he can make a good
case for our being able to keep these extremely important holdings
on-site.

We have lost a couple of buildings in the park to fire, but these
were due to arson. I do not have any accounts of ethanol collections
catching fire and would like to find out if anyone does (and, if so,
what were the circumstances). I need good precise information,
please. We have planned this area with full control and safety
systems, but the California laws are tough. (It does bother me that
we are being held to higher standards than a liquor warehouse....)

I need this information by the end of the month (October), as we are
not being given much time to prepare. Thanks in advance.

Sally Shelton
Director, Collections Care and Conservation
San Diego Natural History Museum
P.O. Box 1390
San Diego, California  92112
619-232-3821
Fax: 619-232-0248

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:40
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 28, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-40-013
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