SC State Museum shares disaster plan in wake of Notre Dame fire

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - In the wake of that devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, officials with the South Carolina State Museum want you to know they do have plan in place in the case of an emergency.

Those who help to preserve items inside the museum said that there is a disaster plan in place, which is revised just about every year by determining which items are most important to their collection and ensuring that those items are in a safe location, and can be easily removed from the building.

That includes items like a crocodile skeleton found in 1997, which helped to shape the research for that particular species.

Museum curator of natural history, Dave Cicimurri, said it’s all part of their overall mission, which is, “To preserve for future generations – so, we’ve got different disciplines. So, natural history is my area. We’ve got cultural resources, science and technology and we’ve got art. So, in each one of those cases, what comes in might be 100 years old, but we want to make sure that we have it for another 100 years or 500 years so that people that long from now can come in and enjoy it and learn from it.”

“We evaluate what objects are priority and figure out where they are so that if we need to check in on them, relocate them,” said SC State Museum registrar Robyn Adams. “We know where they are so that we have easy access to get it out in the event of a disaster.”

The museum’s storage facility is on the lower level. Officials said the elevator is out of operation in most cases of an emergency, so part of their disaster plan is making sure the most important items are on wheels, and on the ground level.