If your mineral collection is in a fire

Abstract

In 2006, an accidental fire in the storage facility for a large mineral collection provided a case study in how to approach fighting the fire, how to stabilize the collection immediately following the fire, and how to recover from the disaster as well as possible. If the curator can be present while the fire is fought, calm persistence is beneficial. Too often emphasis rests on saving the structure rather than on saving the contents, and fire fighters need to be told to emphasize minimizing unnecessary damage to the collection. Preserving the card catalogue, of course, is of particular importance. In this instance, the fire was prevented from burning up any of the collection; however, several kinds of serious damage still occurred: cabinets were thrown out a second storey window to gain access to the fire; smoke and soot coated specimens stored very near the fire; adjacent to where the fire was fought, specimens became intermingling with charred wood, wet plaster board, melted insulation and fire-suppressing foam; and all the other specimens, labels, and cabinets suffered from water damage. These situations require different approaches, which are discussed. In all these conditions, stabilizing the situation to prevent further damage and to permit cleanup and repair of the storage facility is the first priority and needs to be attended to immediately. Recovery of the collection takes much longer, but can proceed smoothly once the situation is stabilized. Insurance coverage must be adequate to include both repairs to the structure and stabilization and recovery of the collection. The use of professionals who specialize in fire and flood cleanup is recommended provided they can be closely supervised by the collection's curator. Otherwise, they will probably worry about mould and mildew and throw away all wet and charred paper, including labels and records. Bringing in such a team permits successful stabilization in a shortened time if they are well supervised. Other lessons learned include: 1) Catalogue the collection and safeguard the catalogue. Be certain numbers attached to the specimens will survive soaking in water and strong detergents (fire-suppressing foam) for days. Many mineral specimens are more durable than you think, but labels are not. Durable storage cabinets can largely protect a collection, but paper labels may be degraded. Write the specimen number on the back of old labels to enable reassociation with the specimens if things get scrambled.