Fire extinguished inside museum at Santa Rosa Junior College

A high-tech fire suppression system inside the Santa Rosa Junior College Museum, designed to suffocate fires without water damage, knocked down a potential blaze Tuesday afternoon that could have caused millions of dollars of damage to the museum’s unique collection of North American tribal artwork.

Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said the museum’s Inergen fire suppression system worked like a charm and made quick work of a fire that was likely caused by coin-sized lithium batteries.

The batteries were being used for tea lights as part of a Día de los Muertos altar display being installed in the museum. Part of that display, including the batteries, was burned in the fire.

Rather than douse flames with water, the system used an inert gas that essentially displaces oxygen, the life blood of a fire, Lowenthal said.

Similar systems are used in buildings that contain valuable property or equipment that could be destroyed by water sprinklers, such as call centers, tech businesses and museums, he said.

“There was several million dollars worth of art that were saved by the college’s fire suppression system,” he said.

According to the museum’s website, it has a collection of more than 4,000 cataloged items.

Traditional Native American artwork, including, ceramics, basketry and beadwork, make up the largest portion of the collection.

Lowenthal said the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.