In an interview with blogger Lee Rosenbaum, Ron Hartwig of the Getty said that the institution “was really designed and built to protect against disasters like a major fire.”
The Skirball fire, which has consumed over 150 acres and is at the Getty’s doorstep, forced the institution to close its doors to the public yesterday and remain closed today.
(Courtesy of The Weather Network and YouTube. Posted on Dec 6, 2017)
“The Getty Center is closed to the public today,” the museum said in a tweet this morning.
“Air filtration systems are protecting the galleries from smoke.”
Los Angeles Mayor Erik Garcetti has declared a local state of emergency in the area affected by the Skirball fire, Deadline reported.
It is one of the smaller of several wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area, but it is in a relatively densely populated area that includes the tony neighborhood of Bel Air and borders the campus of UCLA.
The fire erupted early Wednesday morning and has destroyed at least four homes, according to ABC7.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, it is 0% contained.
One of many dramatic videos uploaded by commuters passing the fire in the early morning hours ominously captures the highway exit sign for Getty Center Drive against a backdrop of a hillside blanketed in flames.
(Police shut down 9 miles of one of the nation’s busiest freeways for much of the day after flames swept down the foothills toward the highway, near Sepulveda Pass and the Getty Center arts complex, as stunned motorists drove by before dawn. Courtesy of CBS Miami and YouTube. Posted on Dec 6, 2017)
According to Hartwig, the Getty campus’s many buildings and the priceless artworks they hold are not at risk from the fire.
“Our air filtration system is very sophisticated: It basically reverses, so that air is pushed out rather than in and smoke is not able to get into the galleries to damage the collection in any way.”
“So the best place for the collection is right here at the Getty,” he told Rosenbaum.
“Even the landscaping is designed so that the plants with the highest water content are closest to the building.”
“Further away, there is more brush. But we also maintain the brush, so that we don’t have combustible materials.”
“The buildings themselves are made of travertine and metal panels.”
He added that the Getty Center will remain closed on Thursday.
The neighboring Skirball Cultural Center has also closed as a result of the wildfire.
“Due to the brushfire in the vicinity, the Skirball will be closed today 12/6 until further notice,” the institution announced in a series of tweets.
“Our thoughts are with all our neighbors, and our thanks to the first responders working to keep us safe.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, one of the private properties damaged by the Skirball fire is the $28.8-million winery and estate of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.
(Bel Air residents were warned their homes may be evacuated as a fast-moving wildfire moved through the tony section of western Los Angeles. Courtesy of the New York Daily News and YouTube. Posted on Dec 6, 2017.)
Original post https://hyperallergic.com/415629/los-angeles-wildfire-threatens-getty-museum/
Editor’s note: Our thoughts and prayers are with all the courageous firefighters and first responders battling the dangerous wildfires in South Carolina, and the citizens throughout the area.
