LOS ANGELES – With all the wildfires here in Southern California, naturally the lion’s share of attention is focused on residential areas, but Los Angeles is a town filled with countless works of art, libraries, archives, and of course film and audio media.

The Universal Studios Fire in 2008 destroyed 40-50,000 archived digital video and film titles and some 118,000 original audio master tapes belonging to the Universal Music Group. 

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At the recent Getty fire, attention once again turned to the safety of our cultural institutions. 

The fires may be gone now, but Mike Rogers, Director of Facilities at the Getty Center points to the nearby hillsides damaged by the recent fire. As the blazes made their way through the hillsides, the Getty Tweeted that the safest place for the art is “inside the museum itself.”

Rogers explained that the Getty’s confidence comes from having a plan, and also a building that uses state-of-the-art fire safety measures.

“When we see we're in a Red Flag warning, it's a critical time for us that we start to kind of gear up procedures and policies and plans should there be a fire,” said Rogers. 

Rogers, a trained architect, said wild fires were always a consideration in the construction of the Getty Center which accounts for the building's travertine stone and robust metal under structure. 

“You can see here all these multiple doors, that segregate areas of the complex from one area to another,” said Rogers in the back stage areas which hold offices, storage, and archives. But building construction is just one part of the story.

Great consideration was also given to the surrounding grounds. Normally, these hills are covered with dry vegetation that act as easy fuel for fire, but careful landscaping and a network of thousands of sprinklers help to slow fires from spreading. 

“As the fire approached us we were able to slow it down with our counter measures, with brush clearance, and our irrigation system that's in the landscape,” said Rogers. “We raise up the oak trees, we prune them up. We keep them off of the ground area, so, should fire come on to the property on the ground, it's not going to travel and get into the trees.”

And as extra precaution, hidden below the parking garage is a million-gallon water tank. 

“Let's say we have no city water. We can still run the fire sprinklers and we can run the hydrants and things to protect us,” explained Rogers. “We have at the Getty a really strong culture of safety, thinking about life safety, fire safety and protection of the collections. It's just part of the culture that's here.”

And in a town filled with priceless art and cultural artifacts, the Getty has become a model for fire safety and security.