Presentation of Aneta Jurkowska

How to protect monuments against hazards
The activities
of the Regional Working Group
for preventing crimes against monuments
and the fire protection of monuments
in the Lubelskie
Region
.
Material prepared for the seminar
Organised by the Office of Capital Conservator within the Framework of the international Project “
The Prevention of Fire Risks and Improving Systems for Extinguishing Fire in Municipal Old Towns classified
as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage (HERITPROT)..
Aneta Jurkowska MSc
(Eng.).
Regional Office for the Protection of
Monuments in Lubl
In order to ensure the proper protection of cultural property in
the Lubelskie Region, on 29 June 2000 was created the
Regional Working Group preventing organised crime against
cultural and historic heritage and acting for fire protection of the
monuments, bringing together representatives of:
- The Regional Police Office in Lublin
- The Regional Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Lublin
- The Department of Safety and Crisis Management
of the Lubelskie Governor’s Office in Lublin,
- The Diocesan Monument Conservators (Archdiocese of Lublin,
Sandomierz Diocese, Siedlce Diocese, Radom Diocese, and
Zamość-Lubaczów Diocese),
• The Lublin Regional Conservator, who has become the coordinator
of the activities of the Group
In 2000, District Inspection Teams were created.
They are to make direct inspection of monuments.
During each inspection, representatives of the following institutions were present:
−
−
−
−
District Police Offices
District Fire Services
District Offices
The Department of Safety and Crisis Management
of the Lubelskie Governor’s Office in Lublin,
− Diocesan Monument Conservators,
− The Lublin Regional Conservator,
-- The Border Guard (in border areas).
The vast majority of inspected sites are religious buildings
The rest – secular public utility buildings.
Each inspection of the Regional Working Group is preceded by
a written notice to the owner / administrator of the monument,
according to a pre-set inspection schedule.
5
Each year, the activities cover both the historic buildings that
have not yet been inspected by the Group, and those already
known to its members as requiring re-inspection, in order to
check the implementation of previous recommendations.
During the inspection, each time a post-inspection report is
made, which describes the current state of the facility’s protection
and appropriate recommendations for its improvement.
All comments and irregularities are passed on to the owner /
administrator of the monument, along with an indication of
possible alternative solutions.
Elements to be assessed
• the overall condition of the building and its location,
• mechanical and physical protection,
• fire protection,
• electronic protection.
After each inspection, in terms of fire protection,
the following elements, among others, are to be assessed:
• the historic building environment,
• access roads (pavement, width),
• accessible fire-fighting equipment and marking
of the place of its storage,
• the marking of the main current switch,
• escape routes and exits flow rates and marking,
• operating procedures in case of fire, including a list of
emergency phone numbers,
• test reports concerning wiring and lightning protection systems and
the maintenance of the existing signal and alarm system.
St. Florian’s
Parish Church in Krężnica Jara.
Built in 1885 on the site of previous
two wooden churches destroyed by
fires (in 1595 and 1883).
Examples of timely maintenance
and replacement of fire-fighting equipment
Examples of markings
of the main current switches.
Examples of markings of routes and emergency
exits according to the regulations of the State
Fire Services.
Examples of instructions in case of fire
placed in accessible locations.
Officers of the State Fire Services, acting in the framework of the Regional
Working
Group, carry out inspection and recognition activities in the
manner specified in the Act on the State Fire Service.
On the basis of separate reports made by them and concerning
inspection and recognition activities, describing identified irregularities,
the appropriate administrative decisions are issued by municipal and
district chiefs of State Fire Services.
During each inspection, in terms of burglary protection,
among others, the following elements are to be assessed:
•
•
•
•
•
•
exterior doors,
door bars,
internal doors (auxiliary rooms / choir / loft),
windows / window bars,
roof hatches / exits to the attic,
ways of storing movable monuments and the most valuable
cult objects,
• range, functionality, and efficiency of existing alarm
systems.
Examples of improper
protection
From the year 2000, in general,1,113 monument inspections were
performed (including: 550 inspections
and 563 re-inspections).
Officials inspected the following types of monuments:
− wooden and brick,
− housing a large amount of movable cultural property,
− designated by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to
have a fire alarm system connected to the monitoring station
of the State Fire Services
Summary of the data concerning the equipment and alarm systems of the
monuments inspected by the Regional Working Group in the years 2000 – 2012.
Number
of conducted
Number of facilities
with alarm systems
(on the day of the first
inspection)
inspections re-inspections anti-burgl.
fire prot.
550 563 54 10
1113
103
anti-burgl.
and fire prot.
39
Number of facilities where it
is required to install a firealarm system, connected to
the signal receiving station of
the State Fire Services
(according to the list made by
the Regional Conservator
in force since 2005)
religious
facilities
secular
facilities
17
27
44
Number of facilities
where a compulsory
fire alarm system (FAS)
was installed
along with connection
to the signal receiving
station
in State Fire Services
religious
facilities
4
secular
facilities
24
28
Among the most frequent and also the most serious
irregularities found during the inspections are
IN TERMS OF FIRE PROTECTION:
► lack of current technical inspections of wiring
and lightning protection systems (or the lack of a lightning
protection system or its improper installation),
► lack of marking of main current switches and gas
shut-off valves.
Lack of proper marking of the main current switches.
Among the most frequent and also the most serious
irregularities found during the inspections are
IN TERMS OF FIRE PROTECTION:
► untimely maintenance and replacement of fire-fighting
equipment and the lack of marking of storage places of firefighting equipment,
► lack of marking of emergency routes and exits.
Untimely maintenance and
replacement of fire-fighting equipment.
Among the most frequent and also the most serious
irregularities found during the inspections are
IN TERMS OF FIRE PROTECTION:
► lack of instructions with emergency phone
numbers in the event of fire
► improperly-secured network sockets and electrical
connections.
Improper protection of electrical wiring.
In 2012, inspections of a total of 86 monuments were performed, including:
• 3 wooden monuments and 30 brick ones as new inspections,
• 17 wooden monuments and 36 brick ones as re-inspections.
In the area of activity:
• The Regional Office for the Protection of Monuments in Lublin: 28
facilities,
• The Delegation Office in Biała Podlaska: 20 facilities,
•
The Delegation Office in Chełm - 12 facilities,
•
The Delegation Office in Zamość - 26 facilities.
During the re-inspection, it was found that post-inspection recommendations were fully
implemented in 16 landmarks, partly in the case of 35, and in the case of 2 they were not
implemented.
The condition of the fire and burglary protection, observed during
inspections in 2012:
Among 33 newly–inspected landmarks
In 53 re-inspected landmarks
an alarm system was present in 13
an alarm system was present in 15
including :
• fire protection – 0,
• anti-burglary – 8,
• anti-burglary & fire protection – 5,
which constitutes 39% of the group of facilities.
including :
• fire protection – 0,
• anti-burglary – 4,
• anti-burglary & fire protection – 11,
which constitutes 29% of the group of facilities.
Equipped with fire alarm system :
81%
Equipped with burglary and robbery
alarm system:
67%
Equipped win accessible fire-fighting equipment: Marking of the main current switch:
correct
none
Marking of storage locations for fire extinguishers: Marking of escape routes and exits:
correct
none
Instructions in case of fire
:
correct
none
Access
roads
(pavement,
width):
Access
roads
(pavement,
width):
Securing main doors:
Securing interior doors:
correct
incorrect
Securing entrance side doors:
Securing windows :
correct
incorrect
Securing door bars:
Securing roof hatches:
correct
incorrect
When analysing the activities of the Regional Working Group in the last
13 years, it should be noted that the situation in the field of the security of
historic buildings slowly but steadily continues to improve:
•
•
•
•
more and more buildings are equipped with new accessible firefighting equipment,
outdated fuse boxes and power connections are being replaced
renovations of buildings are being carried out, during which old
wiring and lightning protection systems are being replaced,
alarm systems are being installed more frequently
Among others, thanks to the activity of t h e Regional Working Group
for preventing crimes against monuments and the fire protection of
monuments, in the years 2008-2009 subsidies from the Ministry of Culture
and National Heritage were gained in order to install alarm systems in
the following churches in the Lubelskie Region:
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Transfiguration church in Borowica,
St. Andrew the Apostle’s church in Borów,
The Elevation of the Holy Cross church in Dłużnów,
St. Stanisław’s church in Górecko Kościelne,
St. Basil’s church in Świerszczów
St. Thomas Becket the Bishop and Martyr’s church in Targowisko.
Borowica
Borów
Górecko K.
Świerszczów
In addition to inspection activities, the Regional Working Group:
•
•
•
prepares and distributes informational materials (handbooks,
brochures) devoted to the proper protection of religious monuments,
provides training primarily targeted at the administrators of historic
a n d religious places concerning the proper methods of securing
against fires and burglaries, and also provides information on
regulations in force concerning t h e security and protecion of
landmarks,
conducts training, for the proper development of landmark protection
plans in the event of an armed conflict and emergency situations.
The actions undertaken by the Regional Working Group are
consistent with another initiative functioning since 2006, i.e. the
governmental programme of reducing crime and unsocial behaviour:
“Together, it's safer”, under which, following the principle of
cooperation with other units, the Lublin Regional Landmarks
Conservator carries out tasks concerning “The protection of t h e
national heritage”, encompassing:
• the organisation of landmark inspections with collected cultural goods, carried
out by representatives of the Police, the State Fire Service and the Lublin
Regional Landmark Conservator,
•
.
the propagation of modern technological security measures at monuments from theft and damage, as well as natural disasters,
•
the continuation of the systemic registration of monuments registration with
photographic and descriptive documentation,
•
conducting training, publishing, collaboration with specialised structures of the
Ministry of Culture and cultural heritage protection,
•
improving the exchange of information on stolen and targeted monuments,
•
creating a central information system of licences issued for the export of the
monuments abroad.
.
The planned activities of the Regional Working Group, aimed
at improving the protection of historic buildings:
•
an agreement between t h e Bishops' Curias in the Lubelskie
Region, and the Police, the State Fire Service, and the Lublin
Regional Monument Conservator on cooperation for crime and fire
prevention in religious buildings,
• latent marking and carrying out of detailed photographic documentation
of religious cultural assets,
• the continuation of the conducting of training sessions with
administrators of historic buildings, especially churches,
• the continuation of the conducting of inspections of historic buildings,
• the continuation of the notification of monument users and
administrators of the need to set up a "Book of a building"
“where entries are made relating to the periodic inspection of
installations, creating inventory books, preparation of minutes of the
transfer and acquisition of so-called mobile monuments by priests
leaving and entering,
• the continuation of the notification of owners, users and administrators
of historic buildings of the need for historic preservation plans in the
event of armed conflict and crisis, if they are not prepared in advance,
and the updating of them
All threats to the cultural heritage, i.e.: natural disasters, wars,
looting, extraordinary environmental hazards, floods, technical
failures, fires and other local hazards, can cause irreversible loss of
national heritage regardless of the source and its causes.
However, the fire hazard in historic buildings is dominant that may
occur both in time of war and peacetime, during, riots acts of
vandalism or theft.
Among t h e dominant factors affecting the fire risks, the most
common causes of spreading fire in all kinds of facilities, not only
those historical, are:
• defects in electrical wiring and heating equipment and
systems, or their misuse,
• the carelessness of people, which consists of, among others,
starting fires caused by negligence, carelessness or ignorance
about handling the fire, flammable materials or objects, or
devices that may cause a fire,
• lightning, coupled with the lack of a lightning protection system.
• deliberate arson.
Losses were estimated at
PLN 300,000.
20/21 April 2010, a fire in a 15th-century building at 7 Dominikańska Street in the Old
Town of Lublin.
Cause: the accidental starting a fire or intentional arson.
9/10 August 2010, a fire in the former camp kitchen barracks in the State Museum at
Majdanek. The cost of rebuilding the barracks was estimated at about PLN 1.2 million, it is
impossible to determine the total loss of the destroyed shoes of prisoners in the material
dimension. Cause: spontaneous combustion of building materials stored inside the building.
11/12 July 2012, a fire at the
Our Lady of Kazan Orthodox Church from 1912 (now the filial Roman Catholic chapel
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Włodawa).
Cause: lightning strike. The losses were estimated at about PLN 2 million.
In order to reduce the scale of the threat and to ensure national
cultural property an adequate level of protection, common
understanding is needed as well as the broad cooperation of
Government services and the owners and administrators of historic
buildings.
The combination of passive and active fire protection measures is
the key to reducing the level of fire risk, minimising the effects of
the elements and protecting landmarks from damage.
Fire prevention is much cheaper compared to the huge losses
caused by the irreversible destruction of priceless treasures.
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
Prepared
by
Aneta Jurkowska
Senior Inspector in historic
preservation at the Regional
Office for the Protection of
Monuments in Lublin