List of Museums Fire in World (1958 -2003)

Date	Museum name	Cause of fire	Fire prevention equipment	Estimated loss
15/04/1958	Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA	Origin was workmen repainting second floor galleries who were smoking on the job.	Detectors but no sprinklers.	USD 700,000 (Loss of one life, 33 injuries, several galleries, two major paintings, including a Monet, seven paintings severely damaged.)
09/08/1970	Henry Ford Museum, Michigan, USA	Origin suspected to be an overheated hair curling iron in a dressing room.	Detectors but no sprinklers on part of the building.	USD 2 million (Loss of several historic displays of shops and equipment.)
30/09/1970	Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History, Washington D.C. USA	Origin was electrical short in the exhibit.	Detectors but no sprinklers.	USD 1 million (Loss of two galleries and their exhibits, with some water damage.)
22/02/1978	San Diego Aerospace Museum and International Aerospace Hall of Fame, California, USA	Arson. Arsonists were two youths seen running away.	No detectors, no sprinklers	USD 16 million (Loss of the building and entire collection, including 40 planes and library.)
08/07/1978	Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janerio, Brasil	Suspected origin from smoking or defective wiring.	No detectors, no sprinklers	USD 50 million (Loss of most of the interior, the roof, and 900 works of art (90% of the collection).
31/12/1984	Byer Museum of Art, Illinois, USA	Suspected electrical origin.	Detectors but no sprinklers.	USD 3 million (Loss of the upper two floors and roof, with extensive water damage.)
17/10/1985	Huntington Gallery, California, USA	Suspected origin was an electrical on the elevator at night, which burst explosively into the first floor.	Smoke detectors in the museum but not in the elevator or elevator shaft. No sprinklers.	USD 1.5 million (Loss of elevator and elevator shaft, one minor painting, and extensive smoke damage.)
11/05/1988	TheCabildo Building, Louisiana Museum of Art, New Orleans, USA	Origin was workmen welding gutters on the exterior igniting an interior hollow space.	Detectors in the museum, but no detectors in the hollow space, no sprinklers.	USD 5 million (Loss of furniture collections in the attic, roof, structural and water damage.)
17/09/1992	National Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA	Suspected origin from portable water heater or smoking		USD 30,000 (Loss of some AV equipments and documentary collections)
20/11/1992	Windsor Castle, London, ENGLAND	Suspected origin was blow torch.	No detectors or sprinklers.	USD 90 million (Loss of a tower, several rooms, tapestries, and minor paintings)
19/04/1993	TheYuma Arizona Art Center, Arizona, USA	Suspected origin was electrical.	Smoke detectors no sprinklers.	USD 1.5 million (Loss of historic building and 39 fine art pieces with some smoke and water damage.)
09/08/1993	Oakland Museum, California, USA	Origin was defective exhibit motor in storage room.	Detectors but no sprinklers.	USD 1 million (Loss of gallery and some exhibits on loan.)
02/06/1994	Oshkosh Public Museum, Wisconsin, USA	Origin was workmen welding gutters on the exterior igniting an interior hollow space.	Detectors in the museum, but no detectors in the hollow space, no sprinklers.	USD 2 million (Loss of 10% of the collection and collection records.)
12/09/1996	Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum, Johor, MALAYSIA	Arson (Molotov cocktail)		Undisclosed
15/03/1997	Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum, Johor, MALAYSIA	Undisclosed		Undisclosed
02/12/2001	People’s Museum, Melaka, MALAYSIA	Electrical short-circuit		Undisclosed (Exhibition Hall is totally damaged. Several copies of Dutch manuscripts, old paintings and artifacts were destroyed in the 9.15pm fire)
20/10/2003	Pak Ali House, Gombak, MALAYSIA	Electrical short-circuit	No detectors or sprinklers.	> USD 500,000 (Building badly damaged and not reopened)

List of Museums Fire in World from 1958 – 2003.

(Modified from www.museum-security.org)

Last up-dated: 07/06/08