Just this week I had the opportunity to revisit the sight of one of the biggest disasters I have been involved with. The Lancaster County Courthouse was the victim of arson in August 2008 and although the gutted 1828 structure speaks volumes about the architecutural gem that it is, it is the burned out photos that haunt me. Notice the filing cabinet on the left and right of the judge's bench- records in the middle of disaster and yet, nothing can be done. I had a call last week regarding a debate about installing a sprinkler system in a records room... I think that this image should prove beyond a doubt that if you can use fire suppression, do it! The motto for preservation folks is that you can salvage a wet record but you can't do a thing for a burnt one. As everyone is heading out for Thanksgiving celebrations, I am thankful that my repository has been lucky and dodged the disaster bullet thus far and my thoughts go out to those dealing with the aftermath of fire, flood, sewer backups and all the other hazards out there affecting our records.