We were devastated to learn of the fire that took place last night on the south end of the Loudoun Street Mall involving three significant buildings – the Cork Street Tavern, the Sperry House, and Beyond the Fringe. Although the cause of the fire is unknown at this time, we would like to take this moment to share some materials on fire prevention in historic buildings.
Although geared more to cultural institutions like museums and archives, J. Andrew Wilson’s Fire Protection in Cultural Institutions paper includes many of the common sense considerations applicable to any historic property. As stated in the paper, “No institution is immune from fire. . . . Damage from fire . . . is usually permanent and irreparable. Historical buildings or contents, once reduced to ash, can never be restored.” Of particular interest is the Self-Inspection Checklist.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the General Services Administration produced a manual in 1989 for Fire Safety Retrofitting in Historic Buildings. GSA has extracted the most important information in the manual to a bullet point list on their website. There is also the 2001 Technical Preservation Guidelines Fire Safety Retrofitting which contains similar guidelines and illustrations for less-invasive fire suppression and detection technology.
For more information on fire safety and research, visit the National Fire Prevention Association website at www.nfpa.org.