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Would it have been possible to move those trucks back, connect more hose, and continue to pump into the Siamese hookup ?
Mr. EsTEPP. I thinlv at that stage of the game that pumping into that Siamese was a futile etl'ort. It would have served no purpose because the major damage had been done.
Mr. MoRR. Thank you.
Thank you, ]SIr, Chairman.
Mr. Preyer. Mr. Kindness ?
Mr. Kindness. There is always the advantage of hindsight, of course, but there has not been any mention made of what would usually be required in a circumstance like this where some sort of work is being done in a building that houses flammable material.
I would tend to reach the conclusion, up until this point, that it would have been wase to remove those materials from the building where the alteration work was being done and stored elsewhere temporarily until the work was completed.
Would this sort of procedure be required under GSA's code, or Prince Georges County code, or the Maryland fire code ?
Mr. EsTEPP. Yes. Certainly we would not have allowed something that hazardous. First of all, we would not have allowed the building's fire protection to be altered without consulting us and without our approA ing some type of means to provide for protection, or requiring that the materials be removed.
There is no way, in my opinion, that that film should have been left in the vault under those conditions.
Mr. Kindness. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Preyer. I have one final question. I would like to ask your airconditioning expert a question.
Do you concur with the statements that have been made about the air-conditioning failure? Or do you wish to qualify that in any way?
Mr. Cross. There is no doubt that the system was not functioning, at least on the day of the fire.
As to what temperature conditions existed in the vault, that is strictly speculation. It is possible that the vault temperatures were elevated to a point where it may have been in the 80-degree or 90degree range.
Mr. Preyer. That is possible, but there is no way we can know ?
Mr. Cross. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. EsTEPP. Mr. Preyer, if I might, let me add this.
Again, probably the vault temperature, once it had gone above a certain degree Fahrenheit, was a problem. Decomposition was occurring.
But we again are speculating that the film self-ignited, meaning that it generated its own heat in a contained can. You probably did not need an outside source of temperature in the range of 100 degrees. It w'as producing its own heat that elevated it to that level.
]Mr. Ingram. What is the flash point of the nitrate film ?
Mr. EsTEEP. If it is brand new, the flash point would probably be close to ignition temperature, which would be in the range of 300 degrees. It could be as low as 105 degrees, or even lower, with unstable nitrate film.
Mr. Ingram. So you are suggesting that, if the temperature in the vault had reached 105 degrees, the deteriorating film could have selfignited ?