PROTECTION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE HISTORY. Contents. Introduction and Acknowledgements : The First Fifty Years - Ralph Lewis

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1 PROTECTION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE HISTORY Contents Introduction and Acknowledgements : The First Fifty Years - Ralph Lewis : The End of the Twentieth Century : The New Millennium Begins Committee Chairs Committee Secretaries Staff Liaisons Meeting Dates and Locations Members Committee Publications Protecting Our Heritage

2 NFPA COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES: THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS A history of NFPA Committee activity on fire protection for libraries, museums, places of worship, and historic structures, from 1940 to 1990 Compiled by Ralph H. Lewis With assistance from Charles F. Gosnell, George A. McKenna, and Charles E. Zimmerman PREFACE Ralph Lewis is a man of great accomplishment and great modesty. This history was chiefly compiled and edited by Ralph and with his characteristic demureness, he has downplayed his own contribution to the work of the Committee. Ralph Lewis spent his career with the US National Park Service holding positions of curator and historian. In 1960, at request from the Park Service Director, Ralph joined what was then the NFPA Committee on Libraries, Museums, and Historic Buildings. He was appointed secretary of the Committee in Ralph retired from the Park Service in 1971 but remained active as a volunteer. He resigned as secretary of the NFPA Committee on Protection of Cultural Resources in after serving in that capacity for twenty-six years! Applying principles of fire safety to the protection of intangible cultural assets is a complex problem. As the Committee progressed through the morass of conflicting objectives, Ralph s minutes and insights were invaluable. Those of us who had the privilege to serve with him will be spoiled forever by his full accounts of our meetings that so faithfully conveyed the tenor of the discussions. His meticulous notes were precise in detail and grammatically impeccable. At the same time he made perceptive contributions to our deliberations and his sensitivity to the problem always enlightened the Committee. I was in constant awe of his ability to seemingly engage simultaneously in both accurate transcription and meaningful discourse. Ralph is a leader by example in his demeanor, intellect, and effort. That leadership played a major role in the Committee being a well-directed body that is ready for the next fifty years. The original intent of this history was to maintain an ongoing summary of Committee activity to help provide continuity as membership changed. With the upcoming celebration of NFPA s 100th anniversary it was decided to publish Ralph s original version as a celebratory document. John M. Watts, Jr. Chair, NFPA Committee on Protection of Cultural Resources, ii

3 NFPA COMMITTEE ON PROTECTION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES: THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS by Ralph H. Lewis This committee traces its origin to a recommendation made at the 1940 Annual Meeting of the National Fire Protection Association. In his address to the meeting President S. D. McComb called attention to a growing need to protect what he referred to as irreplaceable objects of art and antiquity. He stated, "The concentrated values contained in art galleries, libraries, museums, and archives buildings would warrant a considerable outlay for their preservation against loss by fire." He proposed that the NFPA Board of Directors assign this concern to the Committee on Protection of Records, which already dealt with matters especially vulnerable to damage by extinguishing agents. The Protection of Records Committee met later that week. It evidently agreed with President McComb's assessment of the need. Comments by several members revealed awareness of the situation. The safety officer of the National Park Service, for example, observed that an important book on museums lately published by the American Association of Museums virtually ignored fire protection. A Baltimore fire chief recalled a recent fire at the Walters Art Gallery. Another member mentioned sprinkler protection in the new National Archives Building. Nevertheless the NFPA Board of Directors decided not to ask the committee to assume the wider responsibility suggested. Instead the board, acting prior to the 1941 Annual Meeting, established a new Committee on Museums, Art Objects and Historic Buildings. Its scope was defined as, "The safeguarding of museums, works of art and antiquity and historic buildings from loss or damage by fire." Former NFPA President Mc Comb became first chairman of the new committee. At the time of the 1941 meeting it had nine members with additional appointments pending. The members included representatives of the Committee on Protection of Records, the American Association of Museums, the National Archives, the Compressed Gas Manufacturers Association, the Central Station Fire Protection Association and the National Board of Underwriters. The National Automatic Sprinkler Association had a representative within the first year. A. Clifford Hudson of the New Hampshire Board of Underwriters served as secretary. Mr. McComb held the chairmanship long enough to get the committee well started. He continued as a member but relinquished the chair to Mr. Hudson in During the remainder of the 1940's the committee developed its concept of the task assigned. A name change to Committee on Libraries, Museums and Historic Buildings in the mid-40's sharpened its focus and added libraries to its scope. Members concluded that standards writing did not constitute its main job. If libraries, museums and historic buildings followed applicable existing standards, fire safety for both the buildings and the valued collections they contained could improve greatly. As the committee stated in its report to the 1949 Annual Meeting, "... suitable standards would appear to be simply those which require the highest degree of protection which is possible." The situation called rather for motivating and educating the trustees and staffs of libraries, museums and historic buildings to demand and practice the best in fire protection. The 1949 report went on to say, "The Committee is primarily charged with the duty of extending the facilities of the Association to all those who are in any way responsible for the safety of such properties." 1

4 Practical ways to carry out this charge appeared to include publications, inspections and special presentations. The first publication originated by the committee became available in Called Protecting Our Heritage and subtitled Historic Buildings, Museums & Libraries, it came out as a 28-page NFPA manual priced at $.50. Thanks to Robert D. Mac Daniel, other committee members and NFPA staff it was well written, well illustrated and carefully designed. It directed its message to curators, librarians and others responsible for the buildings and collections. The pamphlet contained facts and figures, good advice on steps to take, case studies and the invitation to call on the committee for further help. NFPA initially printed 5225 copies, but the committee succeeded in raising some additional funds hoping to supply free copies to up to 13,000 libraries, museums and historical societies. By 1948 committee membership had grown to 12 including the director of public service training for the State of Connecticut and the New York State Librarian. Consonant with the committee's published offer to help came an opportune request. During the 1948 NFPA Annual Meeting in Washington the committee was asked to inspect fire safety at the White House. Whatever weight its resulting admonitions carried in the subsequent complete gutting and reconstruction of the mansion's interior, the Architect of the White House and the Commissioner of the Public Buildings Administration suggested that the committee review the plans. The committee came to view such inspections as an especially effective method of delivering its fire protection message directly to persons who could take responsive action. Inspections became for a time a principal committee activity. No formal procedure existed, but when a library, museum or historical agency requested advice, the committee usually had one or more members make an on-site study and prepare a report. In most cases specific improvements in fire protection resulted. If an inspected institution failed to reply to the report, the committee attempted to discover why. Buildings inspected during the 1950's and early 1960's included the State House and Fanueil Hall in Boston, Pilgrim Hall and the First Parish Church in Plymouth, the New York Public Library and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, structures for the Adirondack Historical Association and the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, Independence Hall and its historic neighbors in Philadelphia, Virginia's Gunston Hall and Valentine Museum and in San Francisco the M. H. de Young Art Museum. At first NFPA fostered the committee's inspection initiative, but grew increasingly concerned about legal liability as noted below. As a third means of targeting its special audience the committee tried to establish communication with the professional organizations for libraries, museums and historic preservation. For example, consultation with Joseph V. Noble of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (later president of the American Association of Museums) probably led to a presentation on fire protection by committee member Charles Gosnell before the Superintendents Section at the 1959 annual conference of the AAM. Other special presentations aimed toward user groups in the committee's field of concern took various forms as will be seen. Meanwhile the committee continued work on publications. Before the January 1959 committee meeting Chairman Hudson and Rexford Wilson of the NFPA staff had prepared a preliminary draft for a pamphlet on library fire protection. The committee reviewed it and proposed 2

5 additions. NFPA published the result as Fire Record Bulletin FR 60-1, Occupancy Fire Record - Libraries. Its release by January 1961 strengthened the committee's stand in the controversy among librarians over conflicting fire tests that supported divergent views on automatic sprinkler installations in libraries. A draft for a comparable publication on museum fire protection prepared by committee member Walter M. Cadette of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was only a step behind. Committee member John H. Jebens, a fire prevention engineer with the Borden Company, had a similar draft under way for historic buildings. The committee worked on these projects, , while it also considered the revision of Protecting Our Heritage and various alternatives in the way NFPA should publish them, separately or combined. The years proved a period of transition for the committee. It had grown in membership to about 20. Members still saw inspections as especially valuable, but shared to a degree the NFPA concern about liability. In response to committee inquiries General Manager Bugbee wrote in 1962 and again in 1963 to recommend tighter rules. The committee should no longer invite requests for inspections as it had, for example, on page 2 of the Occupancy Fire Record - Libraries. If responsible officials of a library, museum or historic building sought out and asked (preferably in writing) for an inspection, the committee should consider the matter and decide by majority vote. Only members actually conducting the inspection should sign the report unless a majority of the committee had reviewed and approved it. Individual members should be free to withhold signature. He concluded with the suggestion that the committee concentrate on preparing recommended practices publications. Temporary loss of leadership in September 1963 delayed definitive action. Chairman Hudson suffered a cerebral stroke while Staff Liaison Wilson was hospitalized after critical injury in an explosion. A. Sidney Briggs of the Texas Fire Prevention and Engineering Bureau, the committee's secretary, chaired the fall meeting with Gordon McKinnon representing the NFPA staff. The committee did not meet during 1964, although Sidney Briggs tentatively scheduled it to do so during the NFPA Annual Meeting in Dallas. In February 1965 members received notice that NFPA was reorganizing the committee to be technical in purpose rather than merely advisory. (The NFPA Yearbooks listed it in among the advisory and general committees.) The reorganized committee would have Elliott W. Jayne as chairman, Mr. Hudson having retired, and Gordon McKinnon as staff liaison. NFPA defined its new scope, "To develop standards or recommended practices for the fire protection of library and museum collections and to establish fire safety guides for historic structures." The committee met in May and again in October that year. The committee resumed work with eight carry-over members who provided professional experience in libraries, museums, fire service and fire protection engineering. It quickly added seven new members. They included a fire protection engineer from the Underwriter's Laboratories and one from Factory Mutual Engineering Corporation, an historical architect from Colonial Williamsburg, a specialist from the New York State Division of Fire Safety and representatives of the National Automatic Sprinkler and Fire Control Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Association for State and Local History. Chairman Jayne, who had moved from his position as fire marshal at Williamsburg, VA, to become deputy chief of the Alexandria, VA, Fire Department, promptly assigned members to collaborate in groups revising the existing committee documents into recommended practice or 3

6 manual form. Francis Evans, manager of research and development for A. D. T. Company, led the libraries subcommittee; Walter Cadette the one for museums; John Jebens the third for historic structures. After meeting eight times to discuss and edit drafts, the committee successfully defended its Proposed Tentative Recommended Practice for Protection of Library Collections (PT 910) and the corresponding PT 911 for museum collections before the 1968 NFPA Annual Meeting. After the committee reconciled objections raised by the National Forest Products Association and the American Iron and Steel Institute, revised drafts of both documents received approval at the 1969 NFPA Annual Meeting. George A. McKenna, as alternate and successor to Walter Cadette, headed the museums subcommittee through these revisions. The 1969 editions of NFPA 910 and 911 met the committee's initial obligations to define recommended fire protection practice for library and museum collections. The third subcommittee required another year to accomplish its task. The committee as a whole decided that the manual on historic buildings should be the second edition of Protecting Our Heritage, the committee's original publication, although a complete rewrite. One member, Colonial Williamsburg architect Joseph Jenkins, contributed so much to the new draft that the committee voted, over his demurral, to credit him as editor. Committee member Alexander J. Wall, president of Old Sturbridge Village, helped negotiate co sponsorship of publication by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). This arrangement sharpened focus on the thousands of small historical societies in need of advice and assisted in reaching the intended market. The dignified, attractive 39-page booklet, Protecting Our Heritage, A Discourse on Fire Protection and Prevention in Historic Buildings and Landmarks, came out in 1970 to be sold by both NFPA and AASLH. In concentrating on its assigned publications the committee did not forget the potential value of special presentations. It initiated three such projects in At the NFPA Annual Meeting that year in Toronto the committee presented a carefully organized symposium, Protecting Our Heritage for Future Generations. This event helped launch the newly published manual. Chairman Jayne moderated the discussion. Six speakers included committee members Alexander Wall, Francis Evans, Addison Hall and Joseph Jenkins as well as recognized experts from the Canadian Museums Association and the New York State Division of Fire Safety. NFPA planned to print the symposium proceedings for wider distribution. As the second project the committee activated at its September 1970 meeting a recommendation Dr. Gosnell had made five years earlier. He had proposed that it develop a slide or motion picture program on the importance of fire protection in libraries, museums and historic buildings to present at professional meetings, to trustees and at other occasions. Chairman Jayne assigned George Proper and George McKenna to begin the preparation of such slide talks for libraries and museums respectively. The third project involved taking some part in the national Bicentennial observances. The committee saw this as a good means to highlight fire protection for the nation's historic treasures. As a first step it urged NFPA to plan for the Bicentennial. The Board of Directors concurred. Walter Fischer and Harry Lein for the committee wrote the editors of 25 leading magazines 4

7 offering help toward Bicentennial articles on the subject. Even follow-up letters brought scant response. The committee also considered a special Bicentennial publication, but deferred to tentative NFPA plans for a set of fire safety guides that failed to materialize. Elliott Jayne retired from the committee in 1973 after eight and a half years as chairman. The committee unanimously voiced its regret and its sincere appreciation for his wise and strong leadership in all aspects of its work. He had directed it in the completion of the three documents for which it was responsible. He started it on the periodic review and revision, required by NFPA policy, of 910 and 911, the recommended practices for libraries and museum collections. A valuable supplementary project had been accomplished and others well begun. NFPA appointed George A. McKenna, who headed protection and security at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to succeed Jayne as chairman. Immediate tasks facing the committee included the 910 and 911 revisions. A significant addition proposed for both consisted of a glossary explaining in non-technical terms the various applicable fire protection systems. Harry Lein led in drafting this particularly useful appendix and clearing the text with 11 other technical committees. The 1974 NFPA Annual Meeting approved the second edition of 911. Revision of 910, which introduced reference to systems analysis in fire protection, was completed and adopted at the 1975 NFPA Annual Meeting. Chairman McKenna also saw 1980 editions of 910 and 911 successfully through the revision and adoption process. The 1980 editions added a selfinspection form as an appendix. The committee had developed it for this purpose and NFPA had made it available as a separate document in The new editions also contained a much debated recommendation on use of electromagnetic locks for emergency exits. Further revisions for projected 1985 editions of these documents got under way in 1981 at Chairman McKenna's direction. Other publications concerned the committee during this period. Before his retirement in 1976 Joseph Jenkins started to revise the manual, Protecting Our Heritage. As a new member representing the American Institute of Architects, John F. McCune III agreed to carry on the task. Committee members reviewed his successive revisions in 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1981 while considering publication and marketing problems for a third edition. Danny McDaniel and John Watts continued refining the content during 1982 and By 1984 it became clear that the committee would have to raise an estimated $10,000 before NFPA would risk its publication. Members meanwhile proposed two additional committee documents. In 1973 Addison Hall urged that the committee expand its scope to include houses of worship. The committee approved his recommendation at its next meeting, but NFPA denied the request. The Standards Council in 1979 reversed this decision and asked the committee to consider including places of worship. The committee agreed. Its new scope stated, "The Committee shall have primary responsibility for the development of fire safety recommendations for libraries, museums, places of worship, and historic structures and their contents, but shall not overlap the provisions of NFPA 101, Life Safety Code." The new statement lifted a felt constraint in treating the buildings as well as collections in later revisions of 910 and 911. With this authorization John McCune undertook an initial draft of recommended practice for houses of worship. He carried the document through six drafts, each discussed and refined by the committee. 5

8 Dr. Giorgio Cavaglieri's membership ( ), first as representative of the American Institute of Architects and later as an individual member, awoke the committee to the special fire safety concerns of historic buildings being rehabilitated. At a 1977 meeting Dr. Gosnell proposed work on a manual for such buildings being adapted for new uses. Laden with other projects, the committee postponed action. Work on the library and museum audiovisual projects continued during the 1970's. George Proper and George McKenna drafted and revised scripts as well as gathering slides. The committee reviewed their progress step by step. NFPA decided in 1979 after study that it could not afford to produce and market the two proposed slide-tape kits. The committee looked elsewhere for help. The New York State Library, with which George Proper had worked closely, produced the library program for its own state-wide use. Since it also offered the kit for sale at a reasonable price, this largely met the committee's objective. The New York State Museum extended similar cooperation in regard to the museum kit, but did not obtain funds budgeted to produce the final version. The committee terminated its work on the AV project at that point because AASLH had by then issued an audiovisual unit on museum fire protection as part of a larger series. George McKenna decided to step down as chairman in 1983 after a decade of what the members justly described as, "...extreme dedication and strong leadership..." He continued his active membership. During his tenure in the chair the committee grew from 14 to 27 members and alternates. In one of his first acts as chairman he got the American Association of Museums to renew its long lapsed representation on the committee. Membership included representatives nominated by eight other professional or trade organizations: American Association for State and Local History, American Institute of Architects, Fire Marshals Association of North America, NFPA Fire Service Section, Compressed Gas Association, Fire Equipment Manufacturers Association, National Automatic Sprinkler and Fire Control Association, National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Four individual members provided specific library expertise, while at least as many had professional experience in museums. Others were respected fire protection engineers. During George McKenna's chairmanship NFPA promoted Staff Liaison Gordon McKinnon to major editorial duties. George C. Koth succeeded him as staff liaison for the committee from 1976 until he retired in Former committee member Charles E. Zimmerman followed him as staff liaison. NFPA promptly appointed Dr. John M. Watts, Jr., to the committee chairmanship as McKenna's successor. Under his effective leadership the committee completed revision and correlation of 910 and 911 which were approved at the 1985 NFPA Annual Meeting. With the 1985 editions both received designation also as ANSI American National Standards. As a partial solution to the impasse over funding a third edition of Protecting Our Heritage, the committee accepted an NFPA staff suggestion to recast it as a recommended practice which, if adopted, would be published as a matter of course. The same would apply to the document on places of worship. Consequently Chairman Watts designated two task groups to convert the drafts into recommended practice format. Their work and committee review of it consumed two more years of effort. NFPA at its 1987 Annual Meeting adopted 912, Recommended Practice for Fire 6

9 Protection in Places of Worship, and 913, Recommended Practice for the Protection of Historic Structures and Sites. Both became standards of the American National Standards Institute. The committee did not accept 913 as fully meeting the need it saw for a non-technical booklet addressed to historical agencies. The chairman lost no time in enlisting interest from NFPA's marketing staff for a third edition of Protecting Our Heritage. As soon as the committee's workload allowed, he appointed another task group headed by O. William Schumm, Jr., to resume preparation of the content. At a committee meeting in November 1984 Dr. Watts set up another task group to develop a new document on fire protection in the rehabilitation of historic buildings for new uses. Such adaptation of older structures had become a central concern of the historic preservation movement. Dr. Gosnell had suggested committee involvement in Rapid changes in the field since then demanded the committee members learn about current rehabilitation concepts and constraints. Reorientation was achieved, especially through the efforts of new member Marilyn E. Kaplan. NFPA approved the resulting 914, Recommended Practice for Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse of Historic Structures, at its 1989 Annual Meeting. By then task groups had started periodic review and revision for 910 and 911. Early in his chairmanship Dr. Watts proposed a change in the committee name to reflect its widened scope. After extended consideration the members agreed, and NFPA concurred in 1988, to retitle it as the Committee on Protection of Cultural Resources: Libraries, Museums, Places of Worship and Historic Structures. By 1989 this committee had 27 principal members and four alternates with additional applicants. Beginning with the 1983 appointment of Kathy A. Vernot representing the American Fire Sprinkler Association, the committee welcomed the expert contributions of women as members. Upon the retirement of Charles Zimmerman at the end of 1983, Richard Ortisi-Best succeeded him as staff liaison. In addition to work on committee documents the chairman fostered development of a technical bibliography in the committee's field of concern. He secured cooperation of NFPA's Charles S. Morgan Technical Library as the depository to which members submitted references as well as queries. The committee also continued a practice significant in maintaining the quality of its decisions. It frequently chose as sites for its meetings institutions typical of the fire protection situation its documents addressed. Of the 48 meetings convened , for example, 32 were at such places as libraries, museums or rehabilitated historic structure and seven others at sites especially instructive to the committee. 7

10 DRAFT : The End of the Twentieth Century In February 1992, at the committee s meeting in Washington, D.C., Dr. Watts announced he had completed his term as chair of the committee and the Standards Council had appointed committee member Danny L. McDaniel, representing the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, as the new committee chair. Dr. Watts also announced committee member John Koester, representing Johnson and Higgins, had agreed to serve as secretary of the committee. The committee s first meeting with Danny McDaniel as the chair was held in Ottawa in October 1992 at the National Archives and National Library of Canada. In many ways the location of the meeting was a harbinger of things to come. Over the next nine years five of the committee s meetings were held outside the United States one meeting in Canada and four in Europe. In large measure the committee expanded into the international arena through the influence of William Jackson, Building Manager of the National Library of Scotland, who joined the committee in 1992, and Stewart Kidd, representing the British Fire Protection Association, who joined the committee in The committee s European ties were further strengthened when committee secretary John Koester resigned from the committee in 1994 and William Jackson agreed to serve as the committee s secretary, a role he ably filled until his retirement from the National Library of Scotland in April At the committee s March 1995 meeting at Saint Patrick s Cathedral in New York City, committee member Linda Swenson, representing Chubb Group of Insurance, described a project she had undertaken as part of her graduate work that would involve preparing a video on fires and fire protection in cultural resource properties. Over the next year the committee worked with Linda Swenson on the project, which was funded by a grant from the National Park Service and the resulting video, Culture Shock: Fire Protection for Historic and Cultural Properties, was completed in The video explains the use and function of detectors, different sprinkler systems, gaseous agents (including information on the Halon issue), and water mist. It was shot on location using the Library of Congress, Colonial Williamsburg, Olana (NYS Bureau of Historic Sites), and the Cabildo in Louisiana, and several members of the committee wer interviewed in the video or served as advisors. At the committee s October 1995 meeting at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont, committee member Paul Baril, representing the Department of Canadian Heritage, proposed that the committee should attempt to provide some guidance for cultural properties on the potential for damage to collections from various fire extinguishing agents. The committee agreed to take on this project under Paul Baril s leadership, and when he retired from the Department of Canadian Heritage and resigned from the committee in 1997, committee member Deborah Freeland assumed leadership of the project. Over the next several years the committee reviewed the literature available on the topic and explored a number of options for conducting fire tests to develop information on the effects of extinguishing agents on materials in museum and library collections. Discussions with the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Gallery of Art were informative, but the committee came to understand that the information would not be forthcoming unless some organization was willing to fund a test program. 8 Revised 11/23/11

11 DRAFT Also at the committee s October 1995 meeting, long-time staff liaison Richard Ortisi-Best announced that because of some staff changes at NFPA he would be replaced as staff liaison by Robert Solomon. The committee thanked him for his 13 years of service with the committee. The end of the Twentieth Century brought about significant changes in the committee s thinking about cultural resource protection. From its inception, the committee had viewed itself as having more of an educational and awareness role than that of a standards making body, and by 1987, the committee had produced four recommended practices: NFPA 910, Recommended Practice for Protection of Libraries & Library Collections; NFPA 911, Recommended Practice for Protection of Museums & Museum Collections; NFPA 912, Recommended Practice for Fire Protection in Places of Worship; NFPA 913, Recommended Practice for the Protection of Historic Structures and Sites; and in 1989 the committee added NFPA 914, Recommended Practice for Rehabilitation and Adaptive Reuse of Historic Structures. By 1993, however, the need for the committee to change from recommended practices to codes became evident, not only because major fire loses in cultural properties continued, but also because the committee s client audiences, both users and enforcers, were asking for enforceable standards and alternatives. In addition, despite the guidance provided in NFPA 913 & 914, fire and building officials continued to enforce codes designed for new buildings in historic structures, causing significant changes to the historic fabric and character of the structures. In its meeting in Boston, MA in 1993 the committee began discussions about converting the recommended practices to an enforceable standard that would combine NFPA 910, 911, 912, and 913 into a single document for museums, libraries, places of worship and historic structures. As the committee worked through the documents, however, it recognized its traditional informational approach was not suited to code language and it struggled with the inherent difficulty in developing standards appropriate for the wide range of buildings and collections covered by its documents. After much deliberation, however, NFPA published a new standard, NFPA 909, Standard for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties, Including Museums, Libraries, Places of Worship, and Historic Properties, in This milestone document recognized that many traditional fire protection solutions do not work in cultural resource facilities, and this same philosophy carried over into the 2001 edition of NFPA 909 with its continued focus on the need for a structured fire prevention program carried out by the facility operator. The status of the 2001 edition also was upgraded to a code, in recognition of the wide range of requirements in NFPA 909: specifically, sections that stipulate when and where certain requirements are mandatory. In addition to these changes, the chapter on historic structures and buildings was completely revised to defer to NFPA 914, Code for Fire Protection of Historic Structures. While the new NFPA 909 was being developed, a further need to deal with the unique properties of historic structures was identified, particularly because in many applications traditional requirements of codes and standards did not provide practical solutions for correcting fire protection deficiencies in historic properties. In its fall 1995 meeting in Basin Harbor, VT, NFPA staff engineer Milos Puchovsky introduced the committee to the concept of performance based codes and standards, which helped to alleviate some of the misgivings the committee had about trying to develop a one-size-fits-all approach for historic buildings, and the committee began actively exploring the idea of issuing NFPA 914 as a standard with a performance based 9 Revised 11/23/11

12 DRAFT option. In November 1996 in a joint meeting in London with the British Fire Protection Association, the Chief Fire Officer from the Isle of Wight challenged the committee in an open meeting to provide realistic and enforceable standards for the protection of historic buildings, and after that discussion the committee agreed to rewrite NFPA 914 as a standard with performance-based options. NFPA published the new document, NFPA 914, Code for the Fire Protection of Historic Structures, in 2001, and at that time it was one of only three NFPA documents that included performance-based options. To introduce the performance-based approach and the new document to the cultural resources field, in its November 2001 meeting in Williamsburg, VA and again at its September 2002 meeting in Philadelphia the committee participated in seminars to educate cultural resource and fire protection professionals on the performance based approach available in NFPA 914. In June 2001, new member Dr. Wolfgang Kippes, representing Schloß Schönbrunn, hosted the committee in a meeting in Vienna, Austria where the committee observed the first full-scale joint exercise of Schloß Schönbrunn s damage limitation team with the Vienna Fire Service. Dr. Kippes had attended the August 1999 meeting of the committee in Edinburgh, Scotland as a guest, and after that meeting he became interested in applying concepts from NFPA 914 to renovation projects at Schloß Schönbrunn that included upgrades to the building s fire detection system and the addition of fire suppression systems in critical areas. The June 2001 meeting included an in-depth discussion of how Schloß Schönbrunn had applied elements of the performance based alternatives available in the 2001 edition of NFPA 914 to one of the premier World Heritage sites in Europe. The committee also began work at this meeting to add performance-based options in the next edition of NFPA 909. Probably the most significant outcome from the meeting at Schloß Schönbrunn was the strengthening of the committee s ties with European cultural resource protection professionals through the committee s participation in a joint conference on Protection of Palaces and Historic Buildings with the European Cost (COoperation in the field of Scientific and Technical research) Action C-17 Committee. Cost Action C-17, funded by the European Union, and ably led by Ingval Maxwell, OBE, Director Technical Conservation, Research and Education for Historic Scotland, had been formed to research and document the fire problem in historic structures in Europe and to develop recommendations and practices to improve fire safety in them. Over the next six years the two committees would share information and members and would participate in a series of very mutually beneficial conferences. At the committee s November 2000 meeting in Orlando, FL, staff liaison Robert Solomon announced he had been assigned to coordinate NFPA s building code project and Allan Fraser would be the committee s new staff liaison. With the committee s November 2001 meeting in Williamsburg, VA, Danny McDaniel completed his term as chair of the committee and he announced the Standards Council had appointed Deborah Freeland, representing Arthur J. Gallagher, as the new chair and the first woman to hold that position with the committee. 10 Revised 11/23/11

13 DRAFT : The New Millennium Begins Deborah Freeland began her term as chair at the committee s April 2002 meeting at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, CA. A predominant theme in the committee s deliberations from that meeting forward was concern about failures of quick response sprinklers, the effects of corrosion on the longevity of black iron, copper, and stainless steel sprinkler piping, particularly in dry and pre-action systems, and increasingly disturbing reports about issues with the installation and long-term maintenance of plastic pipe in sprinkler systems. These concerns arose out of reports of catastrophic failures and severe system damage from several cultural resource properties, including Colonial Williamsburg and the National Library of Scotland, press reports about failures in cultural resource properties, and a growing body of data in the fire protection community about similar unreported problems in other facilities. As a result, the committee took a very active interest in the work of the NFPA 13 and 25 committees, and began to educate itself and the cultural resource field about the issues, problems, and possible solutions. At the committee s September 2008 meeting in Nantucket it hosted a half-day symposium on corrosion, were experts in the field presented data about the issues, expounded on the probable causes of the problem, and offered recommendations to prevent and remediate the problem. At its October 2009 meeting at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the committee heard a presentation on proper installation and maintenance of plastic pipe in sprinkler systems. As a result of these efforts, the committee added detailed information in the draft 2012 edition of NFPA 909 to deal with the prevention, identification, and remediation of corrosion in sprinkler piping and added language about proper installation and maintenance of plastic pipe in sprinkler systems. Members of the committee reached out to the cultural resource field on the issues and members made presentations on the issues at the National Conference on Cultural Property Protection in Williamsburg VA in February 2008 and at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in Los Angeles in At the committee s September 2003 meeting at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, Milosh Puchovsky replaced Allan Fraser as NFPA staff liaison to the committee. Mr. Puchovsky continued in that role until he was promoted to Secretary of the NFPA Standards Council in 2007, when he was replaced as the committee s staff liaison by Gregory Harrington. In the first ten years of the new millennium the committee continued to expand its international outreach, holding seven of its meetings outside the United States: L Aquila Italy, April 2003; New Lanark, Scotland, June 2005; Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 2006; Ottawa, Canada, May 2007; Siena, Italy, May 2008; Aberdeen, Scotland, May 2009, and Vienna, Austria, June The similarity between the objectives of the COST Action C-17 committee and the Cultural Resources Committee continued to make the two committees natural collaborators, and from 2002 until the COST Action C-17 committee issued its final report and disbanded in 2007, the two committees collaborated on data collection, shared fire safety guidance documents, and participated in joint conferences and seminars in Rome, Italy (April 2003), New Lanark, 11 Revised 11/23/11

14 DRAFT Scotland (June 2005), Ljubljana, Slovenia (May 2006), Siena, Italy (May 2008) and Aberdeen, Scotland (May 2009). In addition, the two committees shared several members while the COST Action C-17 Committee did its work: William Jackson (Edinburgh, Scotland), Dr. Wolfgang Kippes (Vienna, Austria) Steward Kidd (Cambridge, UK), Stefano Marsella (Rome, Italy), Luca Nassi (Siena, Italy), and two COST Action C-17 members - Nick Jordan (London, UK), and Mike Coull (Aberdeen, Scotland) - joined the Cultural Resources Committee after the COST Action C-17 Committee completed its work. Contact with fire protection and cultural property professionals in Europe greatly benefited the committee s documents by sharpening its focus on damage limitation planning as a key component of the overall protection plan, using trained staff as a key element in the overall protection plan and in achieving compliance with prescriptive code requirements, and the need for flexibility when implementing fire code requirements into World Heritage sites, such as Schloß Schönbrunn, to maintain their culturally significant features and collections while keeping them safe for visitors and staff. As the new millennium unfolded, the committee continued to work on its fire extinguisher project, and with Deborah Freeland s new responsibilities as committee chair, Michael Kilby, representing the Smithsonian Institution, with assistance from Robert Wilson, representing the National Gallery of Art, assumed leadership of the project. As the task group struggled to find an organization willing to sponsor the project, it became clear the committee lacked a clear vision of exactly how the project should be conducted and evaluated. By the May 2008 meeting in Siena, Italy, the task group recommended abandoning the project; however, as the committee discussed the proposal it conclude that the project needed a well thought out written project plan to help potential sponsors understand what the committee wanted to achieve and why it was important. The chair appointed a small task group to prepare a comprehensive project plan to use to apply for a grant from the Fire Protection Research Foundation. The task group developed the project plan over the next several months, and Robert Wilson used the document to apply for a grant from the Fire Protection Research Foundation. The Foundation agreed to provide $10,000 as seed money to help fund Phase 1 of the project, which involved hiring a firm to conduct a literature search and to prepare fire test and evaluation protocols for measuring the effects of a variety of commonly used extinguishing agents on representative materials found in museum and library collections under fire and non-fire conditions. The Fire Protection Research Foundation worked with committee members to identify potential sponsors and raised an additional $50,000 from Amerex Corporation, American Pacific Corporation, General Services Administration, Orr Protection Systems, Inc., and United Technologies Research Center to conduct the first phase of the project, which was completed in 2010 under a contract with Hughes Associates. As early as 2008, committee member Cynthia Greczek, representing The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, had approached the Colonial Williamsburg Department of Conservation about actively participating in the project, and there was significant interest. Unfortunately, however, recent staff reductions and retirements had left the department short staffed and under new leadership that was not comfortable taking on the project at that time. Cynthia Greczek continued to work with Colonial Williamsburg s conservators as the project moved forward and in early 2011 she convinced Colonial Williamsburg s Department of Conservation to manage the next phase of the project. Colonial Williamsburg Conservator Emily Williams was assigned as project coordinator, and she began preparing an application for a grant 12 Revised 11/23/11

15 DRAFT (approximately $300,000) to be submitted to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in 2012 to fund full scale tests and laboratory analysis of the exposed samples. The committee s documents continued to evolve during this period, and the 2005 edition of NFPA 909 underwent a major reorganization in accordance with the Manual of Style for NFPA Technical Committee Documents, and for the first time provided both performance-based and prescriptive-based alternatives for new construction, renovation, and reconstruction projects to preserve culturally significant building features and historic fabric. In 2004, members of the Committee were involved with a Fire Protection Research Foundation project in the development of risk concepts for NFPA s documents, from which the Foundation issued a document titled Guidance Document for Incorporating Risk Concepts into NFPA Codes and Standards. The NFPA Standards Council viewed the document as a useful resource for committees wishing to pursue risk concepts in their decision making but had not mandated its use; however those from the committee who participated in the project felt some aspects of the work should be incorporated into the next edition of NFPA 909. At the committee s May 2007 meeting in Ottawa, Canada, the committee discussed the risks inherent to cultural resource properties and decided the next edition of NFPA 909 should take an all hazards approach to cultural resource property protection and directed the chair to petition the NFPA Standards Council to add security to the committee s scope. The NFPA Standards Council approved the scope change and the 2010 edition of NFPA 909 was completely revised to reflect the addition of security to the committee s scope; hazards other than fire were added to the code s goals and objectives; a requirement was added for the cultural resource property governing body to conduct a vulnerability assessment; and new chapters were added on planning for protection, emergency operations, and security, along with a new annex that describes commonly used premises protection systems and equipment. While the body of the NFPA 914 code only changed slightly between the 2001, 2007 and 2010 editions, a significant amount of information was added to the annex material in the document. The committee had wanted to provide concrete examples of alternatives for code compliance in order to help planners, designers, and code enforcement officials envision how the performancebased options in the code might be used from the first discussions about making NFPA 914 into a code. In the 2007 edition the committee added a modest annex section highlighting successful examples of alternative solutions used by the General Services Administration and others and in the 2010 edition the committee expanded this annex section significantly to provide more examples. Other new material in the 2010 edition included annexes with examples of code exceptions that are allowed in some jurisdictions for historic buildings, information on fire protection in historic districts, and information on commonly used premises protection systems and equipment that parallels the material in NFPA 909. At the committee s October 2010 meeting at the Franklin D. Roosevelt home in Hyde Park, New York, committee secretary William Jackson announced he would retire from the National Library of Scotland in April 2011 and would no longer serve as the committee s secretary. Chair Deborah Freeland congratulated and thanked him for his long service with the committee and especially for the excellent job he had done for 16 years as secretary of the committee. 13 Revised 11/23/11

16 DRAFT Subsequent to that meeting Deborah Freeland recommended to the Standards Council that William Jackson be appointed member emeritus to the committee, and she nominated him for an NFPA Special Achievement Award in recognition for his work in expanding the influence of the committee s documents in Europe and for his 16 years of faithful service as committee secretary. The Standards Council approved William Jackson s appointment as member emeritus to the committee in October 2010, and at the NFPA Annual Meeting in Boston, MA in June 2011 the Chair of the Standards Council presented William Jackson with an NFPA Special Achievement Award. At the committee s June 2011 meeting at Schloß Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria, committee chair Deborah Freeland announced Michael Coull, representing Heritage Fire and Safety Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland had agreed to accept the position of committee secretary. At the committee s November 2011 meeting in Oakland, CA, Deborah Freeland completed her term as committee chair, and she announced the NFPA Standards Council had appointed Donald C. Moeller, representing the California Historical Building Safety Board, as the new chair of the committee. 14 Revised 11/23/11