Very Little Damage From Small Smithsonian Institution Fire

Monday, Feb. 7th was a tough day at the Smithsonian Institution. A small fire broke out in the air conditioning system. Washington D.C. firefighters were called to the scene. The fire was put out very quickly. The Smithsonian Institution fire may be the fault of billions of dollars of deferred maintenance projects. They are lucky the damage was not severe because this could have possibly cost a lot more than a personal loan for the city if loss was even worse. Source of article - Small fire at Smithsonian Institution does little damage by MoneyBlogNewz.
Smithsonian faces a fire
The Washington D.C. fire department reported this morning that firefighters were called to the National Museum of Natural History. Insulation caught on fire after a spark came off of air conditioning equipment. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire easily, and harm to the Natural History museum was minimal. 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 maintenance
The majority of funding for the Smithsonian Institution comes from the United States government. The 2010 Deficit Commission has recommended charging admission fees to get to the Smithsonian to help defray costs. There aren't admission fees currently. You will find billions put into maintenance that isn't getting done with the Smithsonian Institution instead. The maintenance that hasn't been done might be the reason why the air conditioning vent sparked a fire into the Smithsonian Institution.
Other Smithsonian fires in history
The Smithsonian Institution has had fires before the little fire. Over the years, there have been other little fires. They have occurred at the various museums in the Smithsonian. On Jan. 24th, 1865 the Smithsonian Institute (just one building at the time) had a major fire that damaged the picture gallery, lecture room, philosophical laboratory, and first story of the building. 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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