[10][11] It took 150 men employing 14 hose streams to put the fire out by 5:30. [10] Local truck driver Robert Davison observed flames coming from one of the structure's window vents, and within five minutes, used a municipal fire alarm call box to report the fire. The 1965 MGM vault fire was a major fire that erupted in Vault #7 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's studio in Culver City, California sometime during 1965, resulting in the loss of many silent and some early sound films of which no copies now exist.. Background. Nitrocellulose is also subject to thermal decomposition and hydrolysis, breaking down over time in the presence of high temperatures and moisture. [11] However, it had neither a fire sprinkler system nor mechanical ventilation, and no security guard was employed to watch the facility. The early motion-picture industry primarily used film stock made of nitrocellulose, commonly called nitrate film. [9][10] The building was also badly damaged. save hide report. The fire resulted in one death and two injuries, and destroyed all of the film present. [B][10][14] Fifty-seven truckloads of burned film were hauled from the site to have their silver content extracted. Film storage cabinets with ventilation and cooling systems were also proposed, as was further research into improving the quality of cellulose acetate film to encourage its use as a safer replacement for nitrate film. [10] All the film in the facility was destroyed; more than 40,000 reels of negatives and prints burned to ashes inside their film cans. [1], In the earlier 20th century nearby Fort Lee on the Hudson Palisades was home to many film studios of America's first motion picture industry. The film has never been seen in its entirety since. Date: 9 July 1937: Source (1937). A major fire broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States on July 9, 1937. [10] Total property damage was estimated at $150,000–200,000. [10] The local fire department confirmed Fehrs's fireproofing. This page is based on the Wikipedia article. Article about 1937 Fox vault fire, p. 1 A major fire broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States on July 9, 1937.Flammable nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film industry laboratories, studios, and vaults; although the precise causes were often unknown. The fire brought attention to the potential for decaying nitrate film to spontaneously ignite, and changed the focus of film preservation efforts to include a greater focus on fire safety. Also destroyed were negatives from Educational Pictures to Belarusfilm (with which Fox was then affiliated) and films of several other studios. It was caused by the spontaneous combustion of nitrate film stored in inadequately-ventilated vaults. TIL of the 1937 Fox vault fire, in which 40,000 films were destroyed. Information from its description page there is shown below. Clipping found in The Record in Hackensack, New Jersey on Jul 9, 1937. [B][10][14] Fifty-seven truckloads of burned film were hauled from the site to have their silver content extracted. [10] Total property damage was estimated at $150,000–200,000. One was at the Fox studio vault fire in 1937, and the other fire was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1958. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Agency 31 (2): 136–142. [10][13] When the fire spread to the vaults in the south and east of the building, they exploded, damaging the brickwork and blowing out window frames. [8] When Little Ferry, New Jersey, contractor William Fehrs was hired to construct a film storage facility in 1934, he designed the structure to be fireproof. ] Despite the potential fire danger of stored film, considerable uncertainty exists about the circumstances necessary for.! 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