Journal of the Society of Archivists, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2004‘Heaven helps those who helpthemselves’: the realities of disasterplanningPAUL HOLDEN, Lanhydrock House, The National TrustAbstract. In February 2003 The National Trust, in conjunction with the Cornwall FireService, staged an emergency exercise that fully tested our disaster plan. Our aim was to assess,in real time, all our active and reactive measures during a night-time alarm activation and withno personnel on site. Some significant conclusions were drawn from the exercise. First,‘intelligent’ fire systems and electronic interfaces can, and do, aid the salvage operation.Second, reactive operations can be reliable without a predetermination of roles. However, themost important conclusion remains that without the co-operation and support of the fireservice in all stages of planning the chances of successfully salvaging collections from a burningbuilding are minimal.IntroductionOne of the pioneers in the field of disaster planning was the Victorian engineer JamesCompton Merryweather. His 1886 edition of Fire Protection of Mansions describes adisaster plan ‘drawn up by his Lordship to be observed at Taymouth [Castle]’ inwhich first priority was given to the estate and household staff to combat any blaze.1Then, as now, the protection of life and the suppression of fire, not surprisingly, tookprecedence over the salvage of collections. Merryweather’s lack of concern for salvageclearly follows traditional practice. Indeed, Robert Kerr’s earlier influential work, TheGentleman’s House (1864), does not consider physical fire protection, safe storage ofmuniments or any thoughts to salvage to be worthy of deliberation.2Thankfully ouragenda has changed and in the 1980s and 1990s considerable thought was given todeveloping strategies for coping with disasters, although sometimes it seems, only asa belated reaction to past tragic loses. More positively, however, the wider applicationof official standards, particularly in recent years BS 5454:2000, has made a significantcontribution.3Recent articles in this journal have raised our awareness with regard to two specificissues of disaster planning. First, ‘Disaster recovery in the York flood of 2000’Correspondence: Paul Holden, House and Collections Manager, The National Trust, LanhydrockHouse, Bodmin, Cornwall PL30 5AD, UK.ISSN 0037-9816 print/ISSN 1465-3907 online/04/010027–06  2004 Society of ArchivistsDOI: 10.1080/003798104200019912428 P. HoldenFIGURE 1. Lanhydrock House, Cornwall. (Photograph with kind permission of the National Trust.)highlighted in a very practical way the first-hand realities of a potential disaster.4Second, ‘Meeting the Montreal Protocol’ drew our attention to the more complexthemes of fire suppression and project management.5More recently, an article byHeather Forbes expressed the importance of disaster exercises and the lessons tolearn from them.6While these articles relate specifically to medium to large archiverepositories, the same issues are relevant to country house collections, private archivesand small museums. In these often much smaller collections, the practicalities ofdisaster planning are often hampered by inadequate budgets or the physical and/orhistorical restrictions of the architecture. It is clear, therefore, that irrespective of thesize of holdings, the production of a simple and effective disaster strategy needs to berecognised as an essential part of the management plan.This article is based on a disaster plan and a consequential fire exercise that washeld at Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, in February 2003. Lanhydrock, the ancestralhome of the Agar-Robartes family, was itself struck by fire in 1881, resulting not onlyin a loss of life, but also in the destruction of many of the family collections andpapers. From the outset of developing the disaster plan, it was clear that we wouldhave to try to think the unthinkable and to anticipate and prepare for the unexpected.The aim therefore, was to produce a proposal that was, in essence, user friendly and,in practice, attainable. The subsequent interest shown in this ensuing disaster plan bylocal museums and galleries indicated that not all were as advanced in such planningas they would wish.It must be stressed that this, or any other plan, cannot be held up as a template.Indeed it would be wrong to advise on individual circumstances as all situations andcollections are unique. Hence, this article can only offer, solely in the spirit of sharingRealities of Disaster Planning 29best practice, a model plan that worked for us. There is no attempt to focus on anyspecific areas but only to indicate aspects of active and reactive measures that may beconsidered when drawing up a disaster plan.Active measures for disaster planningIn accordance with BS 5454, sound risk assessment must recognise the requirementsof early fire detection, alarm activation and remote monitoring.7The importance ofmodern and effective fire detection and/or suppression systems requires no expla-nation to experienced curatorial staff. Rather it is the sequence of events that followan alarm that is so imperative for an effective salvage operation. Some simple systemscan be put in place in order to support the progression of the disaster plan. Onactivation of the alarm an auto-dial-out facility to a remote monitoring station willensure a prompt reaction from the fire service. Furthermore, a fire detection systemthat has the facility to programme each individual detector against a text location hasmany advantages. Such ‘addressable’ panels can be interfaced by a remote softwarepackage that has the ability to track the movement of the fire through the building.Hence, as each smoke or heat detector activates so text information can be relayedinto a remote electronic pager. These systems can further assist the salvage potentialby simultaneously switching on emergency lighting, therefore supporting access to thesite.The advantages of such installations to the fire service need little justification;however for salvage to be fully effective, it does rely somewhat on the quick responsefrom those responsible for the collection. For this reason, rapid and practisedresponse, particularly if an incident occurs out of hours, is essential. Two mainlogistical factors need to be well thought through in advance. First, immediateactivation of personnel needed on site and second, their management and commandwhilst on