Posted By Gareth Butler Hi all, The staff at our museum have changed their water extinguisher to a foam one for the store room they keep the oil paintings in, as they thought the foam would do less damage to the paintings if it had to be used. As both these extinguishers are water based, I questioned whether this is actually the case. Can anyone tell me whether a dry powder extinguisher is likely to damage oil paintings? I realise that the paintings are class A, and water is the ideal extinguishant, but we are talking about items of great value. What do you think? Thanks Gareth

Posted By Philby' Gareth Agree with Gary's last comments....let the Fire & Rescue Service deal with the fire. I know when I worked in Museums & Galleries their advice (WYF&RS), (and that of the Arts Council, Museums, libraries and Archives) its much easier to restore a waterlogged painting than a pile of ashes, and there's no way to restore people. Philby'

Posted By Crim Depending on the value of your paintings I would suggest looking at automatic fire detection and a system of flooding the compartment with a gas/vapour type of extinguishing medium. They leave no trace and would not damage anything. Your evacuation system would need to ensure all persons have left the area prior to the system actuating, therefore a manual system may be appropriate.