Archivists stood by and watched while records were torched yesterday.

But it wasn't an act of reckless vandalism -- the arson was part of a course to teach them how to tackle blazes and salvage documents.

They are keen to avoid the disastrous 1950s fire which tore through the Hamilton Hotel and destroyed a huge chunk of the Government's records.

So books, pictures, film were set ablaze in the courtyard of the Hamilton Fire Station on King Street before being put out by a handful of archivists trained in fire prevention.

Boyd Smith, of the Bermuda Heritage Association, wielded one of the extinguishers.

He said: "It's easy. You have to choose the extinguisher according to what type of fire it is.

"With paper material you use water but if it is metal you use CO2.'' Divisional Officer John Pacheco of the Fire Service supervised the session which showed the pitfalls of ending a blaze as he had to spray water on pile three times as the fire kept reigniting.

He said: "I teach them to get as close as they safely can and to use the water sparingly.

"The extinguishers only have two and a half gallons of water so you need to conserve it as much as possible.'' And tiny amounts are used to dampen the blaze when it restarts.

"The blaze can generate heat around 2-300 degrees but in a room it could get up to 500 degrees,'' said Mr. Pacheco.

He added: "You need to work as a team so when the first person runs out of water there is someone standing right behind to carry on spraying.'' The soggy, charred mess left looked fit only for the trash but the task now is to pick items which can and should be saved.

Deb Werner of the Northeast Document Conservation Centre said it was vital to keep the documents in order.

Single leaf documents are air dried but freeze drying is the next stage for many things to buy time and stop further damage.

And this is an expensive business as then it means items must be shipped abroad.

Then comes the tricky bit of salvaging which sends costs soaring as some firms charge $250 per square foot.

Chemical sponges will remove smoke and soot while leaving the paper unaffected.

Because salvaging costs are so high, prevention is a key strategy for Government Archivist Karla Hayward who is working to put records in fire-resistant boxes.

She said: "About half the collection is in those boxes now. The difficulty is when you have large 17th century records which don't fit the boxes. You need custom made boxes.'' But by the summer the National Archives should have an automatic fire extinguishing system in place.

Nick Artin, a consultant with the Fire Safety Network, explained that the $150,000 cost is a small price to pay when weighed against the consequences of destroyed archives.

He said a fire at the Federal Records building in St. Louis, Missouri destroyed most of the records of world war two veterans meaning they could not prove they were entitled to benefits and pensions.

In the end the Government decided to honour all claims. Mr. Artin said: "This left them open to fraud.'' He said an automatic extinguishing system was vital as paper fires would spread quickly.

"By the time the fire crew were there they probably wouldn't be able to enter the building.'' "The nation would be faced with a huge loss of very significant records, they're not replaceable.'' "You can go through $150,000 in disaster recovery really quick.'' "But this is having a proactive approach. So often there was a reluctance with cultural property to admit a fire might happen.

"But this is saying it is a possibility and we don't want to lose our heritage and we are going to everything possible to stop it.''