Advice on Fire Proofing

[Lollipopsunshine]

I’m about to embark on a tour to a number of theatres all with different requirements and regulations. I have three chairs on stage which are simple pre used household dining chairs. Normally I would use a water based fire retardant spray on anything wood or fabric but this is varnished so it won’t work. I don’t want to use FR paint as this would change the look which the director isn’t happy about. Is there actually any requirement to treat household furniture? Any advice much appreciated.

[Ynot]

I would say that for this sort of thing you're not going to find anything that will give you any significant resistance to fire, if any at all. But that said, other than any upholstery that may be on the chairs (which you can of course treat as normal, although any reputable seating SHOULD already have been treated at manufacture) I'd say that there wouldn't be a specific requirement to cover the timberwork. 

It should all be down to your risk assessment, and whether there are other mitigations you can cite. For example, if this is for a simple play, with no naked flames or cigarettes for example, no pyrotechnics within close range of the furniture and no tungsten light fixtures or other heat sources nearby, then you should be perfectly fine to not worry about treatment.

You don't say where you are (your profile doesn't even list a country) or where you'll be touring, but in the UK, there's little difference between venues as to what is expected of visiting companies as a whole - they may have some specific practices but they won't be far from the rest. So I'd be tempted just to get what info they publish about risks etc and if any of them have a clause which requires FR treatments of low risk items, then talk to them about what they expect.

Edited April 6 by Ynot

[kerry davies]

As Ynot writes soft furnishings should already be IFP and solid wooden furniture is no fire risk so you may be jumping to confusions if nobody has yet asked specifically about these items. 

Incidentally, in all the tours I have done to venues as diverse as cathedrals, castles, village halls and theatres nobody has ever asked to see my fire RA or challenged me on fire proofing and I used candles and naked flames every chance I got.