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| Diagram of the 1937 Fox vault fire |
On 9 July 1937, a major fire broke out in a 20th Century Fox film storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States. It was caused by the spontaneous combustion of nitrate film stored in inadequately-ventilated vaults. The fire resulted in one death and two injuries, and destroyed all of the film in the vault.
This fire was responsible for the loss of most of the silent films produced by Fox Film Corporation before 1932. Also destroyed were Educational Pictures negatives and films of several other studios. It brought attention to the potential for decaying nitrate film to spontaneously ignite, and changed the focus of film preservation efforts to include a greater focus on fire safety.
The early motion picture industry primarily used nitrocellulose film stock, commonly called nitrate film. This film is flammable, and produces its own oxygen supply as it burns.
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Nitrate fires burn rapidly, and cannot typically be extinguished, capable of burning even underwater. Additionally, nitrocellulose is subject to thermal decomposition and hydrolysis, breaking down over time in the presence of high temperatures and moisture. This decaying film stock releases nitrogen oxides that themselves contribute to the decay and make the damaged film burn more easily. Under the right conditions, nitrate film can even spontaneously combust.
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| Nitrocellulose Motion Picture Film Decomposition |
In part because of substantial variability in the manufacturing of early film, there is considerable uncertainty about the circumstances necessary for self-ignition. Sustained temperatures of 41 °C or higher, large quantities of nitrate film, increased humidity, poor ventilation, and aged or decaying film have all been considered risk factors.
Most such fires in film archives have taken place in heat waves during summer months, in closed facilities with limited ventilation, exacerbating several of these variables. Especially in confined areas, such fires can result in explosions.
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Although 20th Century Fox officials at the time remarked that only old films were destroyed, the 1937 Fox vault fire is now understood as a significant loss of American film heritage. Film historian Anthony Slide called the destruction of the Fox Film Corporation vault the most tragic American nitrate fire. The highest-quality examples of every Fox film produced prior to 1932 were destroyed. Although copies located elsewhere allowed some of these films to survive, mostly as lower-quality prints or mere fragments of film, more than 75% of Fox's feature films from before 1930 are completely lost.
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| The Forbidden Path one of the Fox lost films |
Total or near total losses occurred for many Fox performers including Theda Bara, Valeska Suratt, William Farnum, George Walsh and notorious celebutante performer Evelyn Nesbit, who made roughly a dozen films for the studio. As he had moved to Fox in 1918, much Tom Mix material was also lost.
The destruction of the Little Ferry facility spurred an interest in fire safety as an aspect of film preservation. Unlike previous large nitrate film fires, the spontaneous combustion of decomposing film stock was determined to be responsible. Investigators suggested that the older nitrocellulose film stored in the archive was of lower quality than then-current film and thus more prone to instability.
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The Society of Motion Picture Engineers's Committee on Preservation of Film, three months after the vault fire, cited recent and rather extensive film fires as evidence that existing preservation efforts had failed to adequately address the fire problem. More heavily reinforced film vaults were suggested, to prevent fires in a single vault from destroying entire archival facilities. Film storage cabinets with ventilation and cooling systems were also proposed, as was further research into improving the quality of cellulose acetate film to encourage its use as a safer replacement for nitrate film.
To be good is to be forgotten.
I'm going to be so bad I'll always be remembered.
Theda Bara
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