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C02 Fire Extinguisher on a Fly Floor??


Will_Tech

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Last week week at the theatre I work in we had our annual fire extinguisher inspection. During which the service engineer questioned us to why we didn't have a fire extinguisher on the fly floor. Personally I don't think one is needed but I am looking for a second opinion.

There are no portable electrical items up there. There are a few of the usual fixed electrical items i.e.; Emeregency light, Strip lights and a couple of 32A and 16A sockets.

Obviously a foam or water extinguisher would be out of the question, but a C02 one, what do you think?

 

Cheers,

Will

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Them hemp ropes can burn and burn well (seen it happen - over excited pyro tech + very, very old single purchase install - we didn't use the counterweights ;) ) (I think the venue thought single purchase meant you never had to replace anything)

 

I'd rather have a fire extinguisher on the fly floor and never use it than need it and not have it.

 

Cheers

 

Smiffy

 

Oh - Deffo CO2

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If your firm have done their statutory fire risk assessment then that document should state where extinguishers should be, NOT the extinguisher service engineer who probably makes more selling you another ext than servicing extinguishers all day.

 

Perhaps you need to make an assessment of the skill level of your personnel How many of your staff would actually chose the right extinguisher.

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Is it your decision to change the fire extinguisher arrangement, your profile says that you are a freelancer there. These sort of things that directly impinge on the Licence are usually the responsibility of the Licence holder.

 

I personally have a great liking for water or AFFF extinguishers for general use where there isn't a frost risk. CO2 is really good where there is an electrical component to the incident BUT only til you can isolate the power and only in restricted spaces - once you have isolated the power it's just a fire!

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Oh - Deffo CO2

Just thinking out loud, isn't it all going to fall off the floor a bit quick? I'd talk to the fire brigade and ask (non-commercial) advice.

 

Just for the sake of clarity if anything. When there's choice, there's hesitation. In many cases there's usually electrics and what have you along the fly floor. Choice invites delays. C02 is a reasonable catch all extinguisher.

 

having said that Andrew, and on reflection, water would probably be ideal for a Hemp Fire, as it will soak up the water up and down the rope from the fire and hopefully help prevent the fire spreading.

 

I've an old mate in the fire service back in blighty. Hopefully I'll catch up with him this week and if I remember to, I'll ask him.

 

Cheers

 

Smiffy

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Obviously a foam or water extinguisher would be out of the question..

Is that obvious? Why?

 

I would say that water is unsuitable near electrical equipment.

Some types of foam spray are considered safe for electrical equipment.

carbon dioxide is not very effective for burning wood, paper, cloth, hemp rope and the like. The gas very soon disipates in an open area, and the burning materials are liable to re-ignite from burning embers. The gas is ejected with considerable force and may spread the fire by scattering burning fragments.

Carbon dioxide is most suitable for burning electrical equipment.

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CO2 isn`t a catch all extinguisher.

 

Couple of years back street theatre thing in Edinburgh`s High Street, the Royal Mile, which is a fairly narrow street going up a hill facing east.

 

Fire was the theme, and part of the display was 6 foot tall braziers made from diamond mesh stacked full of barbeque charcoal.Quite a number of them.

 

Somebody`s risk assesment didn`t take into account large braziers in an enclosed space with crowds when the wind gets up.

 

Burning embers blowing onto the crowd and braziers acting like blast furnaces,time to get the extinguishers out.

 

Guess Risk Assesments should specify correct type of extinguisher for a forseeable eventuality.

 

From first hand experience can tell you CO2 is not suitable for charcoal fires.

 

It blows the burning embers even farther, the rush of gas into the pile just accelerates burning, one brazier had 10, yes, TEN empty CO2 extinguishers beside it until a local shop came out with some water extinguishers that dealt almost instantly with the fire.

 

Luckily it was a great example of how well trained stewards can keep a crowd calm and avoid an emergency turning into a major crisis, it is worrying to watch someone empty extinguisher after extinguisher into a fire with zero effect.

 

"Pass on the comment to the licensee and then forget about it"

 

Was trained from literally day one, that fire safety is EVERYONE`S RESPONSIBILITY, if you see something that dosen`t seem right or could be safer, pass it up the line, if you are very junior staff your superior will be in a position to reassure you that things are OK or to escalate and solve the issue.

 

Personally like to have even a small extinguisher near at almost all times, first response to something that may get out of hand but can be snuffed with a short squirt.

 

Other thing is to know when to throw the damn extinguisher away and run.

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It's intresting about the case above.

 

Having worked with the very same company else where (and they do great work) I was supprised anything was made of it. We had some high winds when we did a event. Lots of people about and no one complained.

 

The only thing was that the fire chief was not happy with people sondering so close to the upright chimneys.

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I remember watching a Blue Room member attempting to extinguish a small timber fire with a CO2 unit. Emptied the entire thing in the time I took to get a bucket of water and pour it over the site. For a timber/steel/hemp and low electrics area, something other than CO2 make sense. I'd probably go water.
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