Fire Protection in Archives, Museums, and Collections Webinar

For several years now, following the demise of Halon and later FM-200, NOVEC 1230 has served as the preferred gaseous fire suppression agent of choice for protecting high-value archives, museums, and collections from the threat of fire. 3M, the manufacturer, recently announced that they will cease production of NOVEC 1230 no later than 2025 due to the presence of PFAS chemicals in the NOVEC 1230 product and manufacturing process. This session will address the immediate impact of this announcement on collections that are already protected with NOVEC 1230 systems and present alternatives – such as water mist, inert gas, and hybrid systems – worth considering for organizations with new fire suppression system installations pending in the near future.

Upon completion of this course, you will:

• Learn about recent changes in the market availability of NOVEC 1230 gaseous fire suppression agent.
• Understand general characteristics of water mist, inert gas, and hybrid water mist/inert gas fire suppression systems.
• Learn how other institutions evaluated available fire suppression system options and selected the preferred option for their collection.
• Recognize key criteria to address when selecting a fire suppression strategy for your collection.

Instructors bios:

Kyle Lehman, P.E., is a Principal with SmithGroup, where he helps lead the fire protection and life safety engineering team and supports the firm’s Cultural Studio practice. He gained a passion for fire protection as a volunteer firefighter, which lead to his degree and licensure in fire protection engineering. His experience includes fire safety evaluations and systems design for the Library of Congress’ National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, museum and collections storage facilities for the Smithsonian Institute, the Naval History and Heritage Command Library and Rare Books Vault, and multiple federal records centers.

Jacinta Noble is the Chief Conservator at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK overseeing the care of the collections at the Museum and the Gilcrease Library and Archive. Previously, she was the Associate Conservator for the Andrew W. Mellon Collaborative Conservation Initiative (2019-2022) at the University of Kansas (KU), jointly serving the collections at the Spencer Museum of Art and KU Libraries. Jacinta earned an M.S. from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC, 2016) with a specialization in paper conservation. She has completed internships at The Cleveland Museum of Art (2015-2016), National Gallery of Art (2015), Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (2014 and 2016-7) and was the Assistant Conservator for Works on Paper at Balboa Art Conservation Center (2017-2018). Jacinta was affiliated faculty for the University of Kansas Museum Studies program and was guest lecturer in preventive conservation courses for the WUDPAC program. In 2024, she will teach in the University of Tulsa’s Museum Science and Management master’s program. Jacinta holds a Professional Associate membership with the American Institute for Conservation and is currently serving as Secretary for the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild (2022-2023).

Christopher McAfee received a BFA in printmaking in 1993 from Brigham Young University where he began learning to bind books. He went on in 1995 to receive an MFA in bookbinding from the University of Alabama where he began learning book conservation. He has been doing conservation work for 28 years and is currently the Head Conservator and Collections Care Head for the Brigham Young University Library.

Fees: Advance / Regular 

SAA Members: $0

Employees of SAA Member Institutions: $0

Nonmembers: $0