Fire safety and restoration efforts

As we begin to prepare for a (series of) rehabilitation projects in the sanctuary building’s basement, it’s worth thinking carefully about fire safety. Surely we wish to ensure that our plans will satisfy City officials. Furthermore, we also want to see that the construction work itself doesn’t start any fires.

Helpfully, a section of our Historic Structure Report (2003) is devoted to these topics. It quotes from two documents by the National Fire Protection Association, titled “Recommended Practice for Fire Protection in Historic Structures” and “Standard for the Protection of Cultural Resources Including…Places of Worship.” Below the jump, this post will share some highlights from that section.…

The following entries are basically quotations taken from the Historic Structure Report.

Code Enforcement

Proposed rehabilitation projects should be discussed with the appropriate building and fire code officials as early as possible in the planning stages to determine if code or safety conflicts exist. (Many codes have special provisions for historic buildings.) 

Most building code officials are willing to work with owners, architects, and engineers and will consider alternative construction methods, provided a reasonable or equivalent level of life and property protection is proposed. 

Management Responsibility

Fire safety is an essential and permanent part of historic structure operations and should be a key consideration when that structure is scheduled for rehabilitation. Those entrusted with the historic structure’s management or operation have prime responsibility for ensuring that it is protected against the disastrous effects of fire. 

Using advice from qualified fire safety professionals, the management team should develop fire safety objectives and a fire safety plan for the complete facility. As part of this plan, the management should decide how the building, its contents, and the occupants are to be protected during the rehabilitation process as well as when it is completed.

Construction

Fire safety should be taken into account during the construction phase.
 
A fire safety manager should be appointed, to apply the recommended practices and standards that have been detailed by the National Fire Protection Assn.