The Honolulu Fire Department and the Hawai'i State Civil Defense have invaluable advice leaflets on disaster preparedness. Everyone should be familiar with this information for their own safety. This handout was written to assist people in salvaging important or valuable paper objects in the event of a large or small disaster which results in flood or fire damage. This is very important with objects made of paper whether they are framed or unframed works of art, documents, records, photographs or books. Paper is an organic material and is exposed to greater dangers during fires or floods than are ceramic, metal, stone or glass objects.
Paper expands as it absorbs moisture and shrinks as it dries out.
Effects of this include distortion of the paper itself, flaking of surfaces such as paint or gold leaf, swelling of adhesives, and splitting and warping of bindings. Inks, dyes, pigments or coatings may be soluble in water and will bleed when wet. Paper will burn at low temperatures and has a porous surface into which soot particles will embed themselves. At raised temperatures and humidities, mold growth proceeds rapidly causing irreversible damage. Planning ahead will reduce these types of damages and limit the cost of recovery.