FW: RE fire regulations

[Deborah Bede <stillwaterstudio@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone:

Here is a very interesting reply I got directly from Sharon Little -
apparently her new email address isn't recognized by the list:


-
Hi Deborah,

I am forwarding this on to you, below, as the listserv is refusing our new
e-mail address.

Again best of luck,


Sharon



                                                                   
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           



Hello Deborah,

I was involved with a similar case several years ago, a painted curtain of
a similar vintage, on permanent display, in a small local theatre in the
Eastern Townships of Québec.  I suggested that the theatre have the curtain
reclassified to be considered as a painting without a stretcher frame, as
the same fire codes did not apply to paintings.  This worked and the
theatre was not  obliged to apply any fire retardant chemicals!


Depending on the textile materials utilised , one can also stretch the fire
code and refrain from applying chemicals.  In the case of a large
architectural textile weighing 1 361 kilos, suspended from the ceiling of
the top storey and fanning down through the centre of the building for 25
meters of a government building in the City of Québec, that could hold 5
000 employees at one time, the fire department was also eager to have us
apply a fire retardant chemical to meet their city codes.  However, after
consulting with DuPont Canada - good backup-, they informed us and the fire
department that because the architectural textile was composed of Nylon
6-6, this would only melt and not propogate a fire, thus avoiding the
application of a fire retardant.  My paper on this project was published in
the ICOM-CC 13th Triennial Meeting, Rio de Janerio, Preprints, Vol.11,
2002.


Best of luck,


Sharon



Sharon Little
Restauratrice
Responsable - Atelier des textiles

Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine
Centre de conservation du Québec
1825, rue Semple
Québec (Québec) G1N 4B7

Téléphone:  (418)  643-7001  poste 230
Télécopieur:  (418)  646-5419
sharon.little@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.mcccf.gouv.qc.ca






                                                                           
                         Deborah                                           
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                         2007-08-15                                        
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I?m working with the Vermont Painted Theater Curtain  project, and our
current project is a distemper on muslin curtain from the early 1930?s.
The town intends to hang the curtain in the Town Hall, where it has been
stored for many years, after treatment.  This happens by coincidence to be
in my town, in New Hampshire.  We have a particularly difficult Fire
Marshall who is insisting that the curtain be fireproofed.  I know nothing
about fire regulations, and we need some supporting documentation to help
us refute his ruling.  Can anyone tell me if there are any regulations or
other rules that exempt historic textiles from regular fire codes?  I?m
assuming fire regulations are on a  state level, but information about any
state would be helpful.  And anyone?s experience with this situation would
be appreciated.

Thanks,

Deborah Bede
Stillwater Textile Conservation Studio, LLC