Once ignited, it would burn with such ferocity that not even water could douse it. Yet tragic fires did occur and lives were lost. If a nitrate fire reached other reels of film, there would be a holocaust. Today, film preservationists still deal with nitrate film and tend to handle it like sticks of dynamite. Fire hazards aside, nitrate film has other disturbing qualities that frustrate those who try to preserve our movie heritage.
Nitrate film reacts with air and creates nitric acid, which eats film.
What is left is brown dust. Nitrate is also highly susceptible to temperature changes and shrinks easily. Sometimes when a film preservation society receives a can of nitrate film, they open it only to find that the nitrate has completely decomposed. And if nitrate film can be likened to a stick of dynamite, then nitrate dust is nitroglycerine. Considering the fact that all motion pictures before 1950 were originally filmed and printed on nitrate film, there is no wonder that less than half of the films made before that date still exist.