Turning off of power on fire alarm

[Soundie]

Having had a fire drill the other day I was wondering if anyone would like to share the policy of their theatre/venue on cutting the main technical power in the event of a fire alarm activation.

 

If I were an operating engineer at any gig then I would assume that it would be my responsibility to cut the power to my technical equipment, if it is safe to do so, when there is a fire alarm. I would then report to the fire brigade (or Fire Marshall) regarding the state of the technical power.

 

 

Do other people have the same understanding or policy in place, or is the idea to just get out quick?

[Ynot]

Having had a fire drill the other day I was wondering if anyone would like to share the policy of their theatre/venue on cutting the main technical power in the event of a fire alarm activation.

In every building I've worked in, be it theatre or day-job, on activation of a fire alarm, the general populace should down tools, pick up NOTHING and move calmly and quietly to the nearest designated fire exit.

 

Most work places will have nominated fire marshalls whose responsibility it will be to check the building before they leave to ensure that everyone has left (you'd be AMAZED how many people think "Oh it's just a drill" and carry on with what they're doing!) and that any on-site precautions have been observed before exiting themselves.

 

I can think of NO reason for anyone to have the responsibility of wandering into the bowels of a theatre complex (cos that's usually where the power breakers will be!!) to throw the mains - because a) mains switch rooms are a high risk area as a potential cause of fire, and b) the path to that room may take the person closer to wherever the actual source of a fire may be.

 

What MUST happen, however, is the senior technician on duty to act as building rep when the 'brigade arrives, and pass on info to fire chief about where switchgear is located along with any other potential hazards in the building.

 

So the SHORT answer is NO - unless there's a switch by the side of your console which operates a high capacity relay in the dimmer room, you DON'T stop to turn anything off and you DO exit immediately.

 

Besides, perhaps the best thing to do is the opposite of cutting the power - the LX op should bring up a decent lighting state on stage and all house lights to give the punters and talent (and crew!) decent illumination whilst exiting.

 

TD

[mac.calder]

Many venues have emergancy power systems which (upon alarm activation) will cut power to the dimmers and turn on some form of emergency lighting (some times these are the actual house lights, some times they are independant lights which when the power is cut, switch to batery operation).

 

I agree with the "You should not be the one turning off the dimmers", unless of course you have the breaker board up in the bio box with you and your emergency systems don't do that sort of thing for you.

[GridGirl]

My last panto job was stage electrician, which included quite a lot of pyro. We had a fire alarm during one of the dress rehearsals (local brats didn't appreciate being asked to leave the building because it was closed to the public, so set off the fire alarm on their way out) and I did have to make sure that the power to the pyro desk was switched off - as it happened, I was standing next to it when the alarm went off, and even if I hadn't been, the desk would have been between me and the fire exit anyway! Once we were clear of the building and had discovered that it was a false alarm, it suddenly occurred to me that switching the desk off was not going to do much anyway - I had pyros loaded, and whether the desk was on or not would not have made any difference, if the pyros had burnt, they would have gone off anyway! But it was still part of the job and something I was told at the first rehearsal.

[paulears]

Our fire alarm cuts power to the audio power only. Lighting power remains on. Evacuation means just that. If you think you have it bad - consider a theatre on the end of a pier, staffed with part time, low paid and educationally limited staff. We had a real fire, just outside the get-in door. A lady put her head through and said "er, do you know the pier is on fire?". Fag end dropped through one of the deck boards, onto one of the timber supports - festered there for a few days,slowly turning the wood to charcoal, then it went up. Like a little barbecue. Highly qualified stage crew grab exinguisher and apply as per their training. Trouble was, it was a CO2, not foam - and outside in the wind it blew away! Enter LX, stage right with bucket of water - splash! fire out.

 

Actually evacuating the pier is almost impossible - holiday makers do not have variable speed. Shouting in very loud voices "Please leave the pier immediately" just means putting another £2 into the crane machines, rather than £10. Last time one bar bloke didn't leave, and was found washing glasses when everyone went back in. Nobody realised he was there. He didn't understand the messages (both human and recorded through the emergency speaker system) as he can't speak english.

 

The theatre audiences leave quite quickly from the auditorium, but once out on the pier, they simply won't leave. Always seems a bit daft to me - a timber pier, only one way off. You can't even jump into the sea, because it isn't there anymore - the pier is over nice clean sand, right out to the end when the water starts just as the pier stops! FOr every bit of coastal erosion, it goes somewhere else, and in our case, the sea is now a good walk from the seafront!

[DSA]

Our theatre is based within the Students' Union building, and we currently have a policy in place whereby (as part of his own duties):

The Chief Electrician (LX) or senior person present in the proj. box, will;

 

1. Inform the Stage Manager (SM).

2. Raise House Lights using the master dimmer

3. Switch anything else off

4. Clear the proj. box (all crew to leave by the nearest auditorium fire exit)

5. Go to the reactor room, and shut down the dimmers

PROVIDED THAT TO DO SO WOULD NOT ENDANGER LIFE OR ESCAPE

6. Meet with the SM and FOH on the auditorium floor

There is another line which deals with sound, indicating that

The sound engineer will, on being informed of the emergency, will turn down all sound outputs, and power down the sound system

PROVIDED THAT IT IS SAFE TO DO SO

Now I am only stating facts, and not indicating whether this is right or wrong, but my guess is that this procedure will have been approved by senior staff, and no doubt the fire officer/licensing authority.

 

It does seem a little odd however - I don't think that there would be many benefits in having the power off for most fires, as it clearly prolongs the time taken for escape,

 

What I do notice from our plan is that all fires of any size appear to require full evacuation, which seems a little excessive. However, at the end of the day its better that the audience/crew are outside rather than inside for any alert.

 

David

[Andrew C]

What I do notice from our plan is that all fires of any size appear to require full evacuation, which seems a little excessive. However, at the end of the day its better that the audience/crew are outside rather than inside for any alert.

The problem with small fires is that they become big fires extraordinarily quickly. The fire training types carry film of the Bradford City stadium fire. From a small fire to tragedy in under 5 mins. That is why any fire requires an evacuation.

[paulears]

Or Kings cross underground where the police went and had a look at the little fire on the escalator, which suddenly went woosh! - in about three seconds, turned into an inferno. My real worry is where somebody writes NFF No fire found - I always get scared that there IS a fire, it just wasn't found.

[dosxuk]

In our venue, all the sound systems are muted when the alarm goes off, and we just have to turn the working lights on before evacuating. One of us will then normally go to the fire control panel to assist security in identifying the cause (we have one of these posh systems which tell you exactly which sensor/callpoint has been activated) as we know the system much better than them which speeds up the process of confirming a fire.

 

For a while we had big problems with students setting off alarms for a laugh, so we now have 130db sounders on all the call points in public areas of the nightclub which are activated by a flap you have to lift in order to break the glass. Worked a treat! Apart from a few sounders going of for a couple of seconds for the first couple of weeks, nobody has set off a call point for no reason since.

[DSA]

What I do notice from our plan is that all fires of any size appear to require full evacuation, which seems a little excessive. However, at the end of the day its better that the audience/crew are outside rather than inside for any alert.

The problem with small fires is that they become big fires extraordinarily quickly. The fire training types carry film of the Bradford City stadium fire. From a small fire to tragedy in under 5 mins. That is why any fire requires an evacuation.

Yes indeed. As part of my Engineering degree, we studied a short unit this year on "Fire Engineering" - led by a major Professor in the field from New Zealand. In his first lecture he showed two videos - one of the Bradford Stadium fire, and another of a large office block in the USA. I seriously don't think that I will ever look at fire in the same way again.

 

Clearly circumstances in Bradford were such that the fire spread very quickly (e.g. the canopy roof of stand reflected the heat of the fire), but what is more of a tragedy is how I understand that the enrtances were all locked, so that the spectators who tried to "get out the way the came in" were trapped.

 

As with all these such events, whilst being horrific, they provide an opportunity for people to learn from the mistakes made, and to improve for the future, which is why I do wonder if any attempt to shut off power is a big mistake.

 

What I was getting at is how some very tiny fires could be out before the SM has even got to centre stage, and that our plan does not make note of these - but perhaps that is just common sense.

 

David

[Jivemaster]

In all licenced premises there is a responsibility to plan for unforseen events like fire, first aid requirement, etc. The liability falls to the licence holder who should take responsible advice -local authority and Fire service and insurers among others. They should then formulate (and keep updated) plans for coping with irregular events. Managers may get briefings about hazards and how to respond, and how to lead their team in such a situation.

 

Remember your position in the management structure! You may not be given all the info that the licence holder and managers are given. (codewords, passwords, phone numbers etc.)

 

 

The sound and light systems should be available to facilitate evacuation, but the entertainment cannot continue!

 

Technically aware personnel are valued by investigators because they can give evidence of what they saw.

 

Having been made aware of the situation perhaps a word with your manager to confirm what action should be taken, is in order.

[Tomo]

What I was getting at is how some very tiny fires could be out before the SM has even got to centre stage

There is always a chance of re-ignition.

 

A little something that was emphasised many times during my fire warden training, and repeated during my ship safety/emergency duties training.

 

One demo that is really good is putting out an oil fire with the blanket, then pulling the blanket off.

1-2-3 WOOF!, and the fire is burning again.

 

Most of the time you should let the fire service decide if it's really out. The penalty for getting it wrong is just too high!

[Jivemaster]

Unless you have been allocated and trained for a special responsibility in emergency situations you follow the general evacuation plan which should be promulgated to ALL by public notice in advance.

 

If you are trained then a fire less than the size of a wastepaper basket should be extinguishable with the tools provided. Larger than that you need good training and equipment to fire fight successfully.

 

ALWAYS the fire service should be called, the decision to return can only be made by the licence holder and the senior attending fire officer.

 

In a prior career as an airport fireman the rule was see fuel MAKE FOAM immediately dont wait for a fire. One old fire truck had a Jag V12 as the engine for the fire pump, Loadsa foam and VERY quickly.

[Ellis]

If you are trained then a fire less than the size of a wastepaper basket should be extinguishable with the tools provided.

 

If you have ever seen the burning waste paper basket demo, you will know that you will have trouble putting it out with a 9L water fire extinguisher!

 

Fire extinguishers exist to help with your escape, NOT to fight the fire, regardless of size (in many cases thir best use for breaking a window to get out). Their effectiveness is poor at best and their value is increasingly being questioned. It is now considered a bad idea to have fire extinguishers or alarms in the communal hallway of a small block of flats. Fire hoses are thought to be very bad because people are tempted to try to fight a fire that is too big.

 

Although the many fire brigades will charge for false alarms (esp. malicious use of of bell push!), if there is a real fire (no matter how small), they are more than happy to be called (from a fire officer when they attended a smoke detector activation due to dust in a fan heater - they classed it as a fire).

 

Even if you have a trained fire fighting team, you still call the County fire Service and hand over to them as soon as they arrive.

 

I was at a conference at the Heritage Motor Centre recently when one of the lights in the museum started smoking. After a full evacuation, the Gaydon site fire engine arrived, removed the offending item and extinguished it, but we were not allowed back in until the Warwickshire County Fire Service confirmed that it was safe to do so!

[mac.calder]

It depends on the fireman you get about whether they charge. And I do not know about the UK fire brigades, but 4 engines at $2000 each is NOT good for a budget (Rubbish bin fire, automated call-out).