FIRE SAFETY IN HERITAGE BUILDINGS

Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness and Response Patrimonio Cultural: Preparación y Reacción ante los Desastres Patrimoine culturel : prévention et gestion des catastrophes International Symposium Proceedings Salar Jung Museum Hyderabad, India 23-27 November 2003 ©ICOM, all rights reserved Link to the proceedings: http://icom.museum/disaster_preparedness_book/index.html

AN INTERNATIONAL OVERVIEW OF FIRE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE Kyriakos Papaioannou Dept. of Civil Engineering-AISTOTLE UNIVERSITY PO Box 429-541 24 THESSALONIKI-HELLAS Tel+30-2310-995793,fax +30-2310-995729, e-mail: kirpap@civil.auth.gr SUMMARY During the last decades, among various countries authorities, fire experts,conservationists and citizens a great concern on the conservation of cultural heritage including fire protection has been arisen. In this paper a global international review about the state of the art of this important matter is given. It is defined briefly the main terms and the philosophy of conservation, the principles of the fire safety design both in the prescriptive and in the modern fire safety engineering approach. Information about significant fires in historic buildings and sites, as well on several related international activities of different organizations and bodies is quoted. Finally a summary of two research activities going on in Europe is described. F...

List of Malaysian National Heritage Objects (as per April 2009) Category 2007 2009 Heritage Buildings 16 13 Archaeological Sites - 3 Natural Sites 2 - Tangible Heritage: v Museum Collection v National Art Gallery Collection v National Archive Collection v Archaeological Collection 20 10 22 1 1 Intangible Heritage: v Food v Art and Culture - 12 100 17 Living Person - 6 TOTAL 223 Source: Department of National Heritage (2009)

The Important Events of Heritage Conservation in Malaysia Year Events 1976 - The establishment of the Antiquities Act (Act 168) 1983 - The Heritage of Malaysia Trust (BWM) was established. 1988 - Malaysia has been accepted in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention on 7th December 1988. 1980s- 1990s -Restoration of Gedung Raja Abdullah, Istana Tengku Long, saving the demolition of Majestic, restoring Central Market into a cultural market. 1991 - Nationwide inventory of urban heritage buildings (247 towns and over 60,000 buildings) 1995 - Drawing up the country’s first Conservation Action Area Plan for Heeren Street and Jonker Street in Melaka. 1996 - Drawing up of the Penang Municipality Conservation Zones and Draft Outlines for Maintaining the Buildings within the Conservation Zones. 2003 - Drawing up a second Conservation Action Plan for the entire conservation zone of Melaka Municipality. 2006 - On 1st March 2006, the National Heritage Act (Act 645) c...

Generally, heritage conservation legislation in Malaysia could be divided into two jurisdiction levels, Federal level and State levels. In Malaysia, laws made by Parliament are called Acts while laws made by the State Assemblies are called Enactments. Currently at the Federal level, three acts may directly and indirectly deals with the conservation of built heritage in the country, they are: 1) Act 645: The National Heritage Act 2005 ; 2) Act 171: Local Government Act 1976 ;and 3) Act 172: Town and Country Planning Act 1976 . Meanwhile, there are another four legislation that applicable in the certain states in Malaysia: 1)Act 267: Federal Territory Act 1982- for federal territory states such as Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; 2)The Preservation and Conservation of Culture Heritage of Melaka Enactment 1988- for the State of Melaka; 3)The Johore Enactment No.7 1988- for the State of Johore;and 4)The Sarawak Cultural Heritage Ordinance 1993- for the State of Sarawak. In ad...

Eleventh International Conference on Structural Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture (STREMAH 2009), 22-24 July 2009, Tallinn, Estonia. INTRODUCTION: STREMAH 2009 is the 11th International Conference on Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture. The meeting, which has taken place on a regular basis over more than 20 years, has become an event attracting specialists from all over the world. It offers a channel for state-of-the-art technology and the most up-to-date scientific discoveries to be applied to the conservation of our architectural heritage. The importance of the architectural heritage for the historical identity of a region, town or nation is now widely recognised throughout the world. In order to take care of our heritage we need to look beyond borders and continents to benefit from the experience gained by others and to gain a better understanding of its cultural background. This series of conferences marks an important contribution as each meeti...

Author: Herb Stovel (1998) Rome: ICCROM ISBN 92-9077-152-6 http://www.iccrom.org/pdf/ ICCROM_17_RiskPreparedness_en. pdf

Regulating Fire Safety in Historic and Cultural Structures By: Prof. Vincent M. Brannigan J.D. (2007) ABSTRACT Fires can easily destroy our cultural heritage. Most societies use the legal system to protect against fire. However historic structures are not well protected by typical fire safety codes. First, fire codes are designed to protect lives rather than property. Second, older buildings are usually excused from full compliance with the codes. Third, actual compliance in older buildings may be spotty due to the way such buildings are used. Curators and those responsible for such buildings often have an unrealistically low estimate of the destruction that fire can cause, and may place unreasonable reliance on compliance with a code that is not actually designed to protect historical cultural structures. Resolving this issue requires a novel approach to code compliance. A combination of modern technical analysis and the installation of a properly empowered fire safety controller can ...

1. NFPA 914: Code for Fire Protection of Historic Structures 2. NFPA 170: Standard for Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols 3. NFPA 101A: Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety 4. NFPA 101: Life Safety Code 5. NFPA 909: Code for the Protection of Cultural Resource Properties- Museums, Libraries and Places of Worship

By: Einar Karlsen architect, Riksantikvaren (Directorate for Cultural Heritage) Norway 1. ABSTRACT The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage has been working systematically with fire protection since the 1980s. Maximum safety with minimum damage has been a main objective in fire protection of historic buildings in Norway. A fire strategy and an extended cost-benefit analysis should always be carried out to prevent damage to the fabric of the building and unnecessary aesthetic intrusion. Sprinklers were installed in the 1960s in some of the stave churches. During the 1980s sprinklers and fire detection systems were installed in a large proportion of the stave churches. The work was intensified at the beginning of the 1990s because of the threat of arson. During a period of less than five years´ extensive measures were carried out in the 28 surviving stave churches. In addition to the stave churches a program has been carried out to protect a selection of the other 400 most valuabl...

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES- GOALS FOR SOCIETY, BASED ON THE GENERAL FIRE REGULATIONS AND SPECIFIC TO CULTURAL HERITAGE Goal Covered by general Fire Regulations Specific for Cultural Heritage 1. Life and Health Safety Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, England-Wales, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Scotland Switzerland , Italy , Portugal 2. Property Protection a) Structure Austria , Belgium , Switzerland , Germany , Greece , Italy , Norway , Portugal *, Sweden Belgium , Switzerland , Germany , Italy , Norway , Netherlands , Portugal , Sweden b) Content Austria , Switzerland , Greece , Norway , Portugal * Switzerland , Germany , Italy , Norway , Netherlands , Portugal 3. Environment Austria , Germany , Netherlands , Portugal *, Greece Portu...