Small Fire At Smithsonian Institution Does Minor Damage

Monday, Feb. 7 was a tough day at the Smithsonian Institution. A small fire broke out in the air conditioning system. The Museum of Natural History extinguished the fire within minutes. The fire at the Smithsonian Institution might be the fault of deferred upkeep. As of 2009, deferred upkeep added up to over $ 2 billion. They are lucky the damage wasn't severe because this could have possibly cost a lot more than a personel loan for the city if loss was even worse.
Smithsonian encounters a fire
The National Museum of Natural History got a call from the Washington D.C. fire department. There was a spark that flew off of air conditioning equipment. This led to insulation catching fire. There wasn't very much harm to the Natural History museum as firefighters got the fire out easily. Traffic in and around the Natural History Museum was disrupted during the fire, as a plume of black smoke was visible in and around D.C.
Delaying Smithsonian upkeep
The majority of the Smithsonian Institution is paid for by the United States government. It's where funding comes from. Admission fees being added may be considered by the 2010 Deficit Commission. This would help costs go down a bit. There are not admission fees currently. You will find billions put into upkeep that is not getting done with the Smithsonian Institution instead. The upkeep that has not been done might be the reason why the air conditioning vent sparked a fire to the Smithsonian Institution.
Traditional Smithsonian fires
The small fire at the Smithsonian Institution today isn't the first fire at the Smithsonian. Over the years, there have been other little fires. They have occurred at the various museums in the Smithsonian. There was a fire in the Smithsonian Institute on January 24th, 1865. This damaged the first story of the building, the philosophical laboratory, the lecture room and a picture gallery. In the 1865 fire and 2011 fire, nobody was hurt. The institute was closed when both happened.
Articles cited
Son of the South
.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/february/smithsonian-fire.htm
Yahoo News
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110207/ts_alt_afp/usfiremuseum

By: Helen Louie

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