"A risk assessment of the Piql Services" by FFI

incident occurs in the middle of the working day, but it takes several hours before the fire department alerts the Piql personnel and orders them to evacuate as quickly as possible. Before they leave, they activate the oxygen reduction suppression mechanism inside the piqlVault. The scenario takes place while the piqlFilm is in storage in the piqlVault. The vault is placed in the lower floors of the National Archive building. Underneath the building there is a mountain repository with the highly rare documents, but for the purposes of this scenario we analyse the piqlFilms in the building aboveground, as the films placed in the mountain hall would be completely safe from the fire and extreme temperatures. The vault is regulated through ventilation to uphold the ISO standards governing levels of humidity and temperature, but the day itself is very hot. All safety measures required by Piql AS are in place, see section 5.5.1 for details. Of special notice here: the oxygen reduction suppression solution is in place and activated during the incident, but there is a limited supply of the oxygen restricting gas to suffocate the fire. The physical infrastructure of the building and the storage room are severely affected by the fire, though there are some remedying factors which help the situation. Due to the building’s location on the outskirts of the forest, it takes some time for the fire to spread out to the forest edge. Once it does, however, the fire spreads quickly from the vegetation to the building structure. Another positive thing about the location of the building is that it is more easily accessible to the fire department than it would have been had it been located deeper into the forest. Additionally, the construction is made of cement/brick, so it does not burn to the ground. The parts of the piqlVault system which are touched by fire are highly affected by increase in temperature and the flames themselves. As the piqlVault is placed on the lower floors of the National Archive, it is easily accessible to the fire. Even though the piqlVault is equipped with the oxygen reduction suppression mechanism, the forest fire persists to the point when the supply of the oxygen restricting gas is depleted. Once the fire is allowed to spread to the piqlVault, and the grid is subjected to the flames, the structural integrity of the aluminium grid collapses completely, as the exposure to the fire is prolonged. The aluminium in the grid has a melting point of between 600 and 660° Celsius. The aluminium will not burn, but it will melt. However, this All security measures required by Piql AS are in place.

Vault description

Local safety measures

Local security measures

Consequences

Outer building

Vault

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FFI-RAPPORT 16/00707