Contributions to the AICCM National Conference 2013, Adelaide 23-25 October
Abstract
On 7 August 2012 the National Archives of Australia held a fire exercise in association with ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA). The purpose of the exercise was to examine questions relating to the fire protection provided by of storage materials and furniture. A range of box types, furniture types and surrogate materials were included in the exercise including documents, artworks, photographs, film, magnetic tape and discs.
Among the questions being looked at were:
• What box making material is best?
• What style of box is best?
• Is metal or wooden shelving preferable?
• What type of enclosure is best for motion picture film?
• What fire protection is afforded by plan drawers?
• What protection is afforded by filing cabinets?
• What is the best framing method?
Also examined was the effect of fire on various vulnerable materials, for example thermal papers and CDROM. The exercise resulted in a set of useful conclusions which could be used to help develop a set of guidelines for best practice storage for fire protection.