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Mr. Bernard and I are both deeply disturbed by the fact that the recommendations and conclusions contained in last year's GAO report seem to have been forgotten. Yet, had these recommendations been aggressively pursued, it might not have become necessary for this panel to convene in search of the cause of a devastating fire.
I hope that in the course of these hearings you will bear in mind that the fire at Suitland was only a suggestion of a far larger catastrophe. When you find the cause of the explosion and fire there, you will have found the cause of explosions and fires that may yet occur at other archives throughout the country.
Once again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to the knowledge gained from these hearings to help prevent any recurrence of the calamity at Suitland, any smiilar disaster at any archive, and to help preserve our past as it is recorded on film.
Thank you.
Mr. Preyer. Thank you very much. We appreciate your early interest in this. As you say, it is tragic that the GAO's warnings were not heeded in time to prevent the fire.
I think our staff people would like to talk with you, Mr. Bernard, further, perhaps during lunch today. We then may have some more questions relating to your expertise.
Are there any comments?
If there are no questions, then we want to thank Mr. Ottinger and Mr. Bernard for their presence.
I understand that we now have some samples of the type of newsreel film that was destroyed in last December's fire. These examples escaped the blaze because they had already been converted from nitrate-base film to safety-base film and were stored in different vaults.
If our Cecil B. DeMille on the staff will turn out the lights, we will have the film.
[Movie shown and slides shown.]
Mr. Preyer. Thank you very much.
Those were very interesting and nostalgic. We end the fun now and have to get to work.
Our next witness is Fire Chief Jim Estepp of the Prince Georges County Fire Department.
We appreciate your being with us today, Chief Estepp.
For investigative purposes. Chief, it is the committee's custom to swear in its fact-finding witnesses. If all of you will please stand, I will administer the oath.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God ?
rChorus of I do's.]
Mr. Preyer. Chief, your men performed heroically during this fire. I understand that 14 of them were hospitalized for burns or exposure to this highly toxic smoke which was given off by the burning nitrate film.
When the first firemen arrived, I understand they entered the building at risk to their own lives to look for people whom they thought might have been trapped there.
In their search, they apparently opened vault doors and thus defeated the building's purpose of keeping a fire compartmentalized.