Endangered Treasures: Curators vs. firefighters, there is no national policy on museum fire protection.
Long-standing fire code violations at Art Museum leaves priceless works at risk By Alfred Lubrano Inquirer Staff Writer MICHAEL PEREZ / Inquirer Staff Photographer The Philadelphia Museum of Art has been in violation of the city fire code since 1952, one fire official said. It was not cited until 1995. Priceless art and firefighters' lives are potentially at risk because the basement storage level of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has failed to meet the fire code, city officials say. The museum's level B, covering more than two acres, holds paintings, sculptures, books, carpets, furniture, ceramics, china and silver, including works by Monet and Alexander Calder. In all, considerably more art is in storage than is on public display. Yet more than half of the vast basement has no sprinklers or other fire-suppression system - a fire-code violation - according to a fire- inspection report obtained by The Inquirer. And the fire-suppression system that is in place for the most valuable paintings and sculptures is inadequate, fire officials said. "The museum has been in violation of the city fire code since Jan. 2, 1952," said Capt. Tom Donovan, chief of the Philadelphia Fire Department's Fire Code Unit. That was when the current requirements were adopted.
The museum was not cited for the violations until 1995, after the fire department began inspecting the building with officers trained in the code. Museum officials say they recognize the problems and for the third time in six years are asking for more time to remedy the violations. "This is a complex issue," said Anne D'Harnoncourt, the museum's director and chief executive officer. "Are we perfect? The answer is no. We understand that the violations are serious. We take what the fire department says very seriously." Fire and museum officials stressed that the museum does not pose a risk to visitors. "If we felt there was a threat to public safety we would close the building down," said John McGrath, deputy commissioner of the Philadelphia Fire Department. "If I didn't believe the museum was safe, I wouldn't encourage visitors to come," D'Harnoncourt said. She said the museum has state-of-the-art fire-detection equipment, 24- hour security, and a staff trained to handle emergencies. Since 1996, the museum has promised to make improvements but missed two deadlines, fire officials said. In June, the museum asked for - and was denied - a third extension, for 10 to 12 years. The museum was ordered to present an expedited plan by Sept. 24. The story of the violations casts a unique light on the neoclassical museum, one of the most popular of Philadelphia institutions. In the city, fire officials cannot name another basement level as large - or with as much burnable material - that is unprotected by sprinklers. In the cultural world, fire experts cannot name other museums that leave most of their art-storage areas unprotected.
And it highlights a tension between art curators and firefighters - one group fearful of water, the other of fire. The problem has caught the eye of city officials; the city owns the museum building, but is not responsible for its maintenance. "We are not granting them the extraordinary length of time they've asked for" to meet the fire code, said city spokesman Frank Keel. "We concur [with the fire department] that the situation on level B is not acceptable from a number of standpoints." Beyond the threat to the art, the basement holds potential perils for firefighters. Level B is virtually windowless, which makes venting a fire almost impossible, fire officials said. "From what I saw, the museum is a deathtrap for firemen," Tony Hudgins, an official of firefighters Local 22 and a lieutenant in Engine Co. 41, said of a 1998 visit. Museum officials said it has taken longer than they thought it would to outfit an "idiosyncratic" 1920s-era building with modern safety equipment. Andrew Lins, chairman of the museum's conservation department, said it is difficult to move fragile art out of the way to install fire- suppression systems. "Moving collections is extremely labor-intensive and we haven't had the wherewithal in terms of staff," he said. "It also entails risks [to the art]." The Philadelphia fire code requires that only the museum basement have a fire-suppression system. None exists in the public galleries or in the offices. Those areas present less of a risk because they contain much less burnable material, fire officials said. Robert Morrone, director of facilities and operations at the museum, said it has made "substantial strides" in improving its fire protection. He added that "money is not the issue, although it's a consideration."
Although the city and museum did not disclose the cost of the upgrade, an outside fire-safety consultant, John Kampmeyer, agreed to furnish a rough estimate. Kampmeyer, an engineer with Triad Fire Protection Engineering Corp. of Springfield, Delaware County, said that installing sprinklers and a gas-suppression system in an area the size of the museum's basement level could cost $2 million to $4 million. Companies that provide insurance for the museum said they were unaware of the problems. "This is all news to me," said Eric Fischer of Fine Arts Risk Management in Arlington, Va., which insures the museum's artwork. "I never heard of these fire-code violations." Asked how the company handles museums with such violations, he said: "It's never come up. Other museums we cover don't have fire-code violations." Kobie West, president of West Insurance Group, the Philadelphia company that serves as an insurance broker for the museum building, said he had been unaware of the violations and declined comment.
Asking for time
Since 1996, the museum has been granted two variances - temporary suspensions of violations - by the Board of Safety and Fire Prevention, a group of seven fire professionals from the region, including McGrath. In late 1995, the board found the museum in violation of the fire code and ordered it to improve a faulty alarm system and install sprinklers in basement levels B and C, fire department records show. The C level, underneath B, includes a garage, but not art, the records show. In April 1996, the museum asked for and was granted a variance, after agreeing to have the work done by June 1997. The work was not done by then, and the board gave the museum its second variance to improve the alarm system by March 2001 and have the sprinklers installed by June 2002, records show. Although the museum improved its alarm system and installed sprinklers in level C, the work in B remained undone. In June, the museum asked for a third variance, saying it would need 10 to 12 years to complete the required work, along with other building upgrades, McGrath said. The request was denied, and museum officials were told to devise a plan that would take less time, fire officials said. Museum officials are appealing to the board. "They presented a time schedule we didn't think was acceptable," said Roland Hall, a member of the safety board and a fire-code expert from Trevose, Bucks County. "Also, their missed deadlines went into my decision-making [to deny a third variance]. I can't think of another building that's gotten two extensions and come back and asked for more extensions."
D'Harnoncourt and Morrone said the board misunderstood the museum's timetable for improvements, which go beyond fire safety. While the whole plan may take 12 years - including upgrading plumbing and repairing a leaking roof - the fire-suppression system can be installed sooner, Morrone said. When? "If I had the answer to that question," he said, "I would have told the fire department." The city owns the museum building and some of the art; the nonprofit Philadelphia Museum of Art is designated as the city's agent for running the building, said Larry Copeland of the city's law department. Despite the difficulties, city spokesman Keel said that art-museum management has been "very cooperative" with fire officials in their efforts to bring the museum up to code and the city believes the situation "will resolve in due course." While the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections could fine the museum for violations, it has not. But the time it has taken for improvements has clearly rankled some fire professionals. In December 1991, following the fire in the 38-story One Meridian Plaza, landlords of 250 city high-rise commercial buildings were ordered to install sprinklers on every floor. Over an eight-year period, "compliance was almost 100 percent," McGrath said. In six years, the museum has not installed sprinklers in the art-storage areas of level B, he said. "The Philadelphia Museum of Art is creating a situation for itself that is unnecessarily hazardous," said William Richmond, Philadelphia fire commissioner from January 1984 to September 1988. A fire safety consultant for a Virginia firm, Richmond lives in Philadelphia. Over six years, Richmond said, "the museum certainly should have gotten its act together. There shouldn't be any reason for them not to comply with fire codes.
"The codes are there to protect, among others, our firemen. If anyone is hurt or killed [in a museum fire], you'll have litigation, guaranteed. And if it's discovered at trial that you've been in violation of the fire code, then you're a plaintiff lawyer's best friend."
City firefighters echo the officials' concerns.
"As part of our training, one thing they've talked to us about is the art museum, and we're shown the inadequate protection it has," said Hudgins, of Local 22. He was especially worried that the basement could not be vented. "There's nowhere for super-heated gases to go - except onto firemen," he said.
Artwork at risk?
Basement level B is a cavernous place filled with treasure. Museum officials declined to let a reporter tour it; neither would they specify what works are kept there. The art is stored in six areas inside the basement, which measures 115,248 square feet, safety board records show. About 30 percent of the basement has sprinklers, installed in 1994-95, to protect items stored for the museum-shop - not art. Almost 14 percent of the space uses halon, an odorless, colorless gas, to put out fires. The remaining 56 percent has no fire- suppression system. The area protected by a halon gas fire- extinguishing system installed in 1985 - which contains paintings, sculptures, carpets and tapestries - covers 15,634 square feet. No longer manufactured because it harms the ozone layer, halon suffocates a fire. By contrast, water cools a fire, then dampens nearby areas to prevent fire from reigniting. In all, 65,214 square feet of level B - larger than a football field - has no form of fire suppression, and has not had any since construction of the museum building was completed in 1928, fire officials said. One of the problems in the basement is "fire load" - a firefighter's term for the amount of material that will burn. "This is the largest basement fire load in the city - the largest I've ever seen," said Donovan, of the Fire Code Unit. Donovan said museum officials told him there are an estimated 3,000 paintings and 3,000 pieces of antique furniture in level B. "Parts of the basement have furniture from floor to ceiling, stacked just like in a lumber yard," said Donovan, who was there in June. "These are things from the last 1,000 years." The basement- level fire load consists of combustibles - wood, paper, canvas - which would produce what firefighters call a Class A fire. Water is the best means to put out a Class A fire, McGrath said. But in the area in which paintings are stored in wooden crates, the museum has chosen to use halon for protection.
Many other museums use halon as well, saying they fear art can be damaged by water from sprinklers that might accidentally discharge. Fire professionals believe halon is not as effective. "Halon is not designed for the Class A fire, which is the kind of fire the museum would have," McGrath said. Halon systems were developed especially for putting out fires of plastics and flammable liquids, experts said. "I trust halon for [suppressing fire in] computer rooms, but not for artifact storage," said Nick Artim, a Vermont fire engineer who worked on the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. "Water is the best way to go. Gas may put the fire out. But the odds aren't with you." In addition, fire officials fear that the museum's halon system is too flawed to function properly. The gas works only if it is released into a sealed room. But level B has about 40 openings in the walls and ceilings from which gas can escape, according to the board report. "We're very leery of their gas system," McGrath said. Morrone took exception to the report. "The fire department doesn't know if the halon works or if it doesn't," he said. "We're testing those rooms." Fire experts said that even if the museum's halon system worked perfectly, it might not be effective. "A fire that starts in the unprotected part will overwhelm it," Richmond said. As part of its new plan, Morrone said, the museum will be adding a combination of sprinklers and suppression systems of gases that are more environmentally acceptable than halon. The museum's fire-suppression plan will more than fulfill code requirements, making the museum one of the safest in the United States, Morrone said.
Curators vs. firefighters
There is no national policy on museum fire protection.
And there has always been a cultural divide between firefighters and curators, each camp with its own prejudices: fighting fire vs. saving art. Curators fear water accidentally being discharged from sprinklers; firefighters fear fire. "We are worried about a water deluge," Lins said. "It would be just as bad as a fire." As a result, facilities have different fire-suppression systems, although the trend over the last 10 years is toward installing sprinklers, said Andy Wilson, fire-protection engineer at the Smithsonian Institution, much of which has sprinklers. "There's better comfort among museum directors knowing museums like ours use sprinklers without adverse experience," he said. There are about 80 fires in museums and art galleries every year in the United States, according to the National Fire Protection Association in Quincy, Mass., a code-writing organization whose standards are adopted by cities throughout America, including Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute has sprinklers, as does Independence Hall, fire specialists said. Both the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Whitney in New York use sprinklers in art-storage areas, officials at each said. Many museums will not discuss fire protection, however, citing security. The National Gallery of Art uses gas systems rather than sprinklers for fear of water damage, said chief of conservation Ross Merrill. Merrill said all art-storage areas are protected. Danny McDaniel, an expert on museum fire codes who chaired a National Fire Protection Association committee on that subject, said the Philadelphia Museum of Art is extremely unusual. "I can't think of another large museum that doesn't have [fire suppression] in art storage," McDaniel said. In the battle between firefighters and curators, "there are no bad guys," said Kampmeyer of Triad. "It's people doing their jobs the best they know how." People erroneously believe all sprinklers go off at once, fire officials said. But the fire protection association said 70 percent of fires are controlled by four sprinklers or fewer.
And accidents rarely happen, according to Bob Tull, a manager for Chubb Group of Insurance Companies in Philadelphia, which insures museums. "In 20 years, maybe I've heard of one sprinkler head going off accidentally," he said. Kampmeyer said the probability of losing a collection to fire is greater than losing it to water damage. And, said Neil Cockerline, an expert on restoring damaged paintings from Minnesota: "I've never seen a painting with water damage that couldn't be restored." http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/4074509.htm
Benin bronze given to Queen was taken from Nigerian museum
By Louise Jury, Media Correspondent 16 September 2002
A bronze head that was given to the Queen by the Nigerian government nearly 30 years ago has been identified as an original 400-year-old sculpture that had been taken from the national museum in Lagos. The revelation that the former president General Yakuba Gowon took an antiquity from a national collection will embarrass Nigeria, which has long argued that Benin bronzes held in British museums were looted and should be repatriated. The work was thought by Buckingham Palace curators to be a replica of the ancient Benin bronzes for which Nigeria is famous and which are still reproduced to high standards by craftsmen. But an arts journalist, Martin Bailey, noticed the work in an exhibition of state gifts open to the public at Buckingham Palace and thought it might be original. Experts from the British Museum and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London have now confirmed that the sculpture dates from about 1600 – and was formerly held in the museum in Lagos until it was presented to the Queen. Professor John Picton of SOAS was once a curator at the Lagos museum and was privately told the true history of the Queen's gift soon after it was taken. In 1973, General Gowon was invited to Britain and was anxious to bring a gift to say thank you for British support during the Biafran civil war. He commissioned a replica Benin bronze but was disappointed with the result. Just before his departure, he telephoned Ekpo Eyo, director of the museum, to say he was coming to choose a gift.
Professor Picton told Mr Bailey, who writes for The Art newspaper: "Dr Eyo hurried to the museum and managed to remove a few of the finest unique items and put them in the store. General Gowon soon arrived, he took one of the bronzes from the display. Dr Eyo was horrified, because it was quite improper for the state to be raiding the museum." http://news.independent.co.uk/
PICTURE OF FAMOUS RUSSIAN PAINTER AIVAZOVSKY STOLEN
NOVOSIBIRSK, SEPTEMBER 9, 2002. /FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT MAKSIM KOSHMARCHUK/. - The picture A Stranded Ship by famous Russian painter of sea-scapes Ivan Aivazovsky which had been painted in 1872 was stolen from the art gallery of Novosibirsk, a large industrial and scientific centre in Siberia. The value of the picture at large European auctions is estimated at 80,000 U.S. dollars.
As RIA Novosti was told in the local Prosecutor's Office, the picture was stolen on Saturday. The criminal ascended the balcony of the first floor of the art gallery building, carefully dismantled the window glasses and penetrated into the premise. The internal signalling system worked alright, but by the time the police arrived the thief had left the scene of the crime. He stayed in the premise for not longer than one minute. The police believe that the picture was stolen by a professional on order. Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) painted more than 7,000 pictures, mainly on marine themes. In the past few years his pictures became popular among collectors, and the prices for Aivazovsky's pictures soared.
In expert opinion, the stolen picture is unlikely to be taken out of Russia because it is Russian collectors who display interest in Aivazovsky's works. http://en.rian.ru/ From: "Torkil Koch" tdk@profort.com To: securma@museum-security.org
Subject: Product information: New updated homepage Profort.com
Date sent: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 13:25:31 +0200
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