Fire suppressants

In case of fire, pure water is generally recommended to extinguish
burning documents.  Nevertheless, foam or powders are often used.  I
have an interest in the harmful effects of these fire suppressants
on archival documents and books as well as the challenges of
cleaning them afterwards.

Findings from our study shall be incorporated into our instruction
documents.  These documents will address the recommended procedure
of care for documents after an incident or emergency.

Following are questions which I invite comment on.  Please share
your experiences and comments that might relate to this topic.

    Have you been faced with situations where burning documents have
    been extinguished by foam or powder chemical agents?If so, were
    they cleaned immediately?How were these documents cleaned?

    If damaged documents dried, and were not cleaned, did you notice
    any harmful effects? How long did it take for these harmful
    effects to present?

    If wet treatment was used within the conservation process of
    documents which have been extinguished with foam a longer time
    ago, were there any noticeable reactions or adverse effects to
    documents?

Birgit Geller
Landschaftverband Westalen-Lippe
LWL-Archivamt fur Westfalen
48133 Munster
Germany


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:43
                 Distributed: Saturday, March 24, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-25-43-029
                                  ***