National Archives and Records Service film-vault fire at Suitland, Md. : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session, June 19 and 21, 1979 (1979)

Record Details:

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167 with any air blowing over it, it could go as high as 800°. So, it is well in excess of the ignition point. If you held a cigarette to cellulose nitrate film, you could cause a Hre. I'^ut for tliat cigarette to cause a fire, the gases of deconi]30sition would have had to have been present, or the cigarette would have had to be very, very close to the film, itself — one of the two— maybe to the point even where some of the tests I have read have said that, on the New York fire, if the cigarette were laid on top of a can, localized heating might be able to cause it. A cigarette in there would offer a very high probability — if it were in the right place — of igniting. Mr. Preyer. Was there any evidence of a cigarette being in there? Mr. LuczAK. I particularly went through vault 10, looking for debris— something a spark might fall into to have ignited the first fire and explosion. I could not find a cigarette that appeared to have been there. But by the time we got there, it was nearly a month later, and there were numbers of cigarettes that obviously were there after the explosion, but I could not find a sign of a cigarette that appeared to have been there prior to. Mr. Preyer. Thank you very much, Mr. Luczak, for your testimony. We appreciate your being here today. Mr. Luczak. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Preyer. Our next witness is Mr. William G. Vanden Bossche, director of insurance for ITniversal Studios, w^hich agreed to install the sprinkler system in building A at the time that Universal donated its collection of newsreel footage to the National Archives. Mr. Vanden Bossche, will you be sworn ? Do you solemnly swear that the evidence you are about to give this subcommittee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God ? Mr. Vandex Bossche. I do. Mr. Preyer. Thank you. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record. So, if you could briefly summarize it, we might have questions for you. STATEMENT OE WILLIAM G. VANDEN BOSSCHE, DIRECTOR OF INSURANCE, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, NEW YORK, N.Y. ; ACCOMPANIED BY GAYLE TITLE, COUNSEL Mr. Vanden Bossche. Good afternoon. I am William G. Vanden Bossche, director of insurance for MCA, Inc., and its subsidiary companies including Universal City Studios, Inc. I have with me today counsel, Gayle Title. I will attempt to summarize my prepared statement so that you car understand Universal's position on this matter. I have been an insurance executive for 22 years and am a member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, a professional associa tion of insurance executives. I have, on many occasions, spoken at insurance conferences on the protection of property and assets related to motion pictures and have continuing contacts witli other insurance executives on the subject of film preservation. The topic of these hearings is of major concern to the entire motion picture industry. I and my counterparts at the other major film studios