Since the 1990s, the Norwegian management for cultural heritage has increased its focus on finding effective solutions for protecting Norway?s wooden cultural heritage from fire damage. The medieval churches in general, including the wooden stave churches, with their interiors and inventories, are of special interest. However, the usefulness of protecting valuable interiors and inventories when fighting fire has been questioned. An experiment was carried out to find manageable solutions for protecting large inventories by using fire covers in case of fire. An experiment using seven commercially available products was conducted by fire fighters to investigate whether these products could protect historic interiors from water and fire. The preliminary results show that it is possible to find manageable, large format covers for the protection of large, immovable historic inventories.
As this work is truly a result of collaboration across disciplines and institutions, the authors are thankful for all inputs along the way. This study has involved close collaboration with the Norwegian Association for Church Employers and Hanne Moltubakk Kempton (Norwegian Association for Church Employers, KA). The authors thank the executives at the Østre Agder fire service: Preben Knarvik, Jan Olav Lundberg, and Petter Vinje Svendsen; the Bergen fire service: Christian Hammersland, Haakon Rasmussen, Øyvind Fagermo, Sveinung Sivertsen, and Erik Angermann; and the Oslo fire- and rescue service: Øyvind Greging and Øivind Mehammer. Ole Anders Holmvaag, Morten Daffinrud, and Anne Steen-Hansen at RISE Fire Research are gratefully acknowledged for input to instructions and helpful discussions. The reference group members who have contributed with valuable input along the way are appreciated: Hanne Moltubakk Kempton (KA), Geir Jensen, Anne Bjørke (Bergen fire service), Susanna Björklöf (Oslo fire and rescue service), Henrik Smith (Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, NO: Riksantikvaren) and Erika Hedhammar (Swedish Directorate for Cultural Heritage, SE: Riksantikvarieämbetet). For proofreading of the article, the authors are grateful for the feedback from Hanne Moltubakk Kempton (KA).