“It’s an irreparable loss, not only for Brazilian science but for the world. The building can be reconstructed, restored, and everything else, but the collections can never be replaced. Two centuries of science and culture are lost forever,” said Sergio Alex Kugland de Azevedo, a paleozoologist and former director of the museum.

 

Read more:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/09/it-was-foretold-tragedy-fire-dest...

 

The printed magazine article makes reference to scientists preferring not to plug their coffee machine in the old wiring of the museum. They "were always afraid the building would catch on fire."

The picture above is that of some of the old wiring completely removed in the 1970s from Gus's old abode. 

 

 

A 1980 US CPSC study found that ageing electrical systems are a factor in the occurrence of electrical fires in homes, an observation confirmed separately by Aronstein in explaining aluminum wiring hazards in what Aronstein calls the "bathtub curve" that maps failure rates over time.

Failures occur early in the wiring system life due to original installation defects and then failures occur again at an increased rate late in the installation's life as the wiring ages and as it has been exposed to the vagaries of use over decades. 

 

Read more:

https://inspectapedia.com/electric/Old_Electrical_Wiring.php#Cloth_Wire

 

 

Many "old" building in Australia have recently been gutted by fire. One wonders what goes on in the head of the owners. Some buildings are being "restored" thus some worker in the roof start a fire while doing "some welding". Hello?.... Others are bad luck due to old wiring. Some fires are arson. 

 

When I was in Africa, the home I was living in had an old wiring and lightbulbs that once had been powered by a now decrepit seized-up diesel generator. This had been abandoned in favour of kerosene (Petramax) lighting and a kero fridge. One day, the building got hit by a bolt of lightning and the "old" wiring acted as a conduit for the surge of electricity. The noise was deafening of course but the old still intact light bulbs glowed and all blew up within a second. We were lucky that the building did not catch on fire despite the dry grass fire outside started by the bolt. Our dog, as usual during electrical storms, went and hid under the staircase. 

 

 

Historic Longreach pub Lyceum Hotel gutted by 'very intense fire' - ABC

 

www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-15/historic-longreach-pub-gutted-by-fire/9872160Jun 14, 2018 - A historic outback Queensland pub in Longreach is gutted after being ... Weeks from the Fire and Rescue Service said last night the building ...

Abandoned Canberra aged care home gutted by fire overnight - ABC ...

 

www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/belconnen-fire...fire-guts...aged...home/8334420
Mar 7, 2017 - An abandoned aged care home located next door to Belconnen Fire Station in Canberra's north is destroyed in ... Abandoned Canberra aged care home gutted by fire overnight ... More stories from Australian Capital Territory ...

Heritage-listed building gutted by fire - News.com.au

 

https://www.news.com.au/...australia/...gutted...fire/.../c0b5f8be17b825b4e0ad580c2e03...
Aug 2, 2017 - SQUATTERS are believed to be responsible for starting a fire that extensively ... Last year the building was the subject of a landmark criminal case that saw former racing ... Picture: Stephen LafferSource:News Corp Australia.
Bordertown fire: former newspaper office hit by fire - News.com.au

 

https://www.news.com.au/...australia/...fire...former.../041c886cc01f3e5c1143d0463058...
Aug 17, 2018 - BURNT cannabis plants and drug paraphernalia have been found inside a historic building in Bordertown that was gutted by fire last night.
Fears for theatre after fire rips through Carlton's La Mama - The Age

 

https://www.theage.com.au › Politics › Victoria › Fire
May 19, 2018 - The La Mama Theatre after the blaze gutted the Carlton building. ... Tributes poured in from across the country, including from leading lights in Australian ... heritage-listed for its "historical, social and architectural significance ...



Urgent inspection are needed. The cases of the four people killed by electrocution while doing "home insulation" under the "insulation programme (which was a success despite these deaths and what the media and Tony Abbott threw at the Rudd/Gillard government), were tragedies in par with these fires. Inexperience at detecting old wiring was the culprit mostly. Greed by subcontractor who employed inexperienced people could have contributed.
The government was hounded. 
Sad story about the museum.