Stopping a show

[EustaceM]

I was calling a show and there was one instance where I had to stop the show because the fire alarm went off due to the haze machine.

I was wondering if there is a standard way or procedure of stopping the show in the case of any emergency. If there isnt, can you tell me what I should say and how I should say.

[Edrick]

Depends on how the system is setup. The Highschool I was at the lighting system would go into panic mode and the sound equipment would auto shutdown. So wasn't much we could do although the need never came up. Basically house lights would go to full and sound and everything else would shutdown.

Now that's in the event of a fire trigger. For a regular evacuation there's a number of ways it would be handled and that'd be determined by the school / AHJ I'm assuming this is a school environment.

[Sayen]

I don't think I would like the sound system shutting down. My SM's have a mic and are prepped to read notices to the audience (please evacuate, please remain seated, use west exit, etc.). For a fire obviously the alarm is sufficient, but for other issues with a large crowd that's your first line of communication.

[porkchop]

I don't think I would like the sound system shutting down. My SM's have a mic and are prepped to read notices to the audience (please evacuate, please remain seated, use west exit, etc.). For a fire obviously the alarm is sufficient, but for other issues with a large crowd that's your first line of communication.

That's the way code for show power (at least for road shows) was explained to me in Canada. The idea is there's a mic for the house or emergency PA somewhere for such an announcement to be read. In the mean time all the show audio gear gets power cut. We use enough battery backups we can run the show for 45 minutes with no power to audio, but that's a whole different story. I guess they had a rock show so loud that no one could hear a fire alarm so no one evacuated. Because of this they're kind of crazy about audio power in some places now.

So come back to the OP. If we're in a situation where the show needs to be stopped the SM or Production Director will call an all stop over radio, the audio guy will stop the show track and play a prerecorded "all stop" message. We don't have a message saying evacuate the building, but there is a live mic available if the need arose. This usually happens for us in the case of performer injuries requiring medical attention in the performing area or when the power goes out (generators are so finicky sometimes) so usually it's pretty obvious why the show it stopping.

[Nelson]

Even a fire alarm isn't always enough to get people to leave. I once was working a show when someone pulled the fire alarm. No one moved! Everyone just stayed where they were until the alarm was shut off. I wasn't prepared with a live mic either. Now I make sure I always have a Godmike ready to use if I need to make an announcement to the audience.

To answer the OP, think about what you are going to say ahead of time and maybe even write it down. You could have prewritten messages ready to be read if the need arises. That saves you from having to make a last-minute, panicked message that could cause more harm than good.

[alyx92]

Whenever I have my voiceover guy record the house speeches (Welcome, cell, phones, nearest exit, etc.) I also have him do:

"Ladies an Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties, this performance of insert show here will be delayed momentarily. Please remain seated."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties, this performance of insert show here has been canceled. Please proceed to the theater lobby via the doors behind you."

and

"Ladies and Gentlemen, RUN FOR YOU LIVES!!!!!!!! :P

[chausman]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, RUN FOR YOU LIVES!!!!!!!! :P

I see the smilie, but I still think this needs to be said. Anything similar to "Run" or "Fire" can be more dangerous then what is actually causing the show to be stopped and the audience exiting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/1..._n_146967.html

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.
From The New York Daily News:

A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.

The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Additional reports from NY Newsday say the "34-year-old Wal-Mart worker died Friday morning after he was knocked to the ground after 'a throng of shoppers physically broke down the doors,' pushing their way into the store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Nassau police said."

[gafftaper]

This is a really important topic for high school, church, community theater and smaller colleges, and other smaller faciliites to consider. Many don't have any sort of plan at all. Many don't have a microphone that the SM can use to make an announcement. Many don't have a mic or recorded announcement at the audio desk that is ready to go.

So what's your plan to stop the show?
Who takes control of the crowd?
What should they say?
How do they project so that they are heard?
What sorts of situations are bad enough that you will stop the show?
Has anyone at your facility talked with the Fire Marshal about what you are expected to do?

[chausman]

Who will remove stage weights and other large objects from doors that are supposed to be closed?

[derekleffew]

This is a really important topic for high school, church, community theater and smaller colleges, and other smaller faciliites to consider. Many don't have any sort of plan at all. Many don't have a microphone that the SM can use to make an announcement. Many don't have a mic or recorded announcement at the audio desk that is ready to go.

So what's your plan to stop the show?
Who takes control of the crowd?
What should they say?
How do they project so that they are heard?
What sorts of situations are bad enough that you will stop the show?
Has anyone at your facility talked with the Fire Marshal about what you are expected to do?

In other words, develop an Emergency Preparedness Plan .

[ptero]

I've done that many times. 'They' finally installed magnetic catches on our two main hallway fire doors. The catches hold them open and are connected to the alarm system. They release, closing the door, with an alarm.

Who will remove stage weights and other large objects from doors that are supposed to be closed?

[chausman]

I've done that many times. 'They' finally installed magnetic catches on our two main hallway fire doors. The catches hold them open and are connected to the alarm system. They release, closing the door, with an alarm.

We have tho in most of our building, but the theater is lacking about 12 of them for all the doors we need open for a show.

[shiben]

We have tho in most of our building, but the theater is lacking about 12 of them for all the doors we need open for a show.

Do you know they are not that way for a reason? I know in a theater I used to work in, the doors had to be closed at all times as a fire code provision. Propping them open was one way to get your show shut down. Might want to make sure of that before propping the doors...

[Les]

My local community theatre has a Silent Knight system which has an annunciator similar to this:


Fire alarm horn/strobe activation with creepy evacuation voice - YouTube

There are a few whoop whoops, followed by this message, and then a few more whoops (rinse and repeat).

[zmb]

Do you know they are not that way for a reason? I know in a theater I used to work in, the doors had to be closed at all times as a fire code provision. Propping them open was one way to get your show shut down. Might want to make sure of that before propping the doors...

Interestingly, the classroom doors in my school stay open if opened all the way without a magnetic release. Then the fire doors in the stairways/areas of refuge have the magnetic holder. Another place some doors have a word-generated, printed sign with a do not prop open message because it blocks the fire alarm pull.

And at the district performing arts center, there is a light that comes on if the system was shutdown by the fire alarm. And in the same venue, who would put optical-based sensors in the shower room?

[EustaceM]

In the case of the fire alarm going off, none of the equipment shuts down or anything. I would have to have house to full, audio mute and make an announcement on the god mic.

I was wondering what I should say in my announcement "Ladies and Gentlemen...."
(That way I can i tape that in the booths to use as a guide)

[Toffee]

We have emergency plans posted a all main areas (SR, SL, light board and sound board) that all of us as house staff have to memorize about what to do for each different position cause our boss will sometimes call us and be like "if you were doing lights at so and so stage what would you do in case of a fire?". We also all wear radios and all have specific channels per stage and channel one is our admin line and emergency stuff. So if we get a fire alarm we all switch to the emergency line and we switch on all work lights and house lights and follow our evac plans and lock the building down with audiance, cast and crew all locked out til the fire dept. gets there and checks the fire panel for an all clear.

[josh88]

in my old venue had a fire announcement that played before shows. "welcome to (theater) please turn off your phones, no photography, emergency exits are located in these places please look to find your nearest exit, thank you, enjoy the show."

In the event of needing to evacuate you wouldn't want to excite people at all, as has been said, fire, run, etc are bad. you want something along the lines of ladies and gentlemen we're having technical difficulties and ask that you would please exit the theatre in an orderly fashion, we apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you bear with us. or something along those lines except telling them to do whatever you want them to do under any given circumstance. and then just insert that into the standard beginning and end to customize for whatever problem you have.

[zmb]

Now how do you keep the audience from panicking if the fire alarm buzzer and strobe are in the house? Probably prevents the ability of "please exit in an orderly manner" announcement from being effective.

[derekleffew]

Now how do you keep the audience from panicking if the fire alarm buzzer and strobe are in the house? ...

Does anyone ever really panic and rush for the exits when Les' whoop-whoop alarms go off? It seems to me the alarms have become so frequent and ubiquitous as to be totally disregarded in most cases. Aka "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. Except in an institutional setting where proper procedure is drilled (as in fire drilled) into the participants. Now IF I received a text or Twitter message on my iPhone telling me there was a fire, I might consider evacuating. There's an urban myth here in Las Vegas that goes, "If it's a woman's voice, you can ignore it. However, if a male voice tells you to evacuate, do it!" After twenty years working in casinos, I've never heard the male voice. FWIW.

See also this thread Building Jurisdiction After Fire Alarm which I've been searching for all day, and finally found. Me, 1; CB's search, 0.

[Les]

Does anyone ever really panic and rush for the exits when Les' whoop-whoop alarms go off? It seems to me the alarms have become so frequent and ubiquitous as to be totally disregarded in most cases. Aka "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. Except in an institutional setting where proper procedure is drilled (as in fire drilled) into the participants. Now IF I received a text or Twitter message on my iPhone telling me there was a fire, I might consider evacuating. There's an urban myth here in Las Vegas that goes, "If it's a woman's voice, you can ignore it. However, if a male voice tells you to evacuate, do it!" After twenty years working in casinos, I've never heard the male voice. FWIW.

See also this thread Building Jurisdiction After Fire Alarm which I've been searching for all day, and finally found. Me, 1; CB's search, 0.

It's kind of 50/50.

One time we were in the middle of Annie Get Your Gun while the House Manager was cleaning up in the lobby. As he was lifting the lid off one of the trashcans, he apparently smacked a pull station, knocking it off the wall and causing 'my' whoop whoop alarm. Of course, not knowing the exact situation, we proceeded as if the alarm was real while the actors left the stage and I manually brought up the house lights while leaving the board en cue. The audience was reluctantly getting up and heading toward their exits (some may have even already exited through a side door) when one of the directors came from the lobby saying that it was a false alarm. Everyone came back (I assume) and we completed the show. I believe a fire marshal came and walked the building during the rest of the show, but I'm kind of surprised that we just started back like that. It was obviously a false trigger and I'm sure that pull station was lighting up on the control panel, but I'm not a fan of taking these matters and assumptions in to our own hands.

Overall, I feel like the evac would have went very well had it been completed. I was impressed that no one panicked (though the reaction was more of a "wait and see what the guy next to me does before I move" sort of thing).

------------
I thought horns and strobes were pretty common in the house. I think it's a catch-22 though. People may ignore the alarm, but on the other hand it's probably hard to make a "there's definitely a fire" announcement without really freaking people out. I think I'd rather have horns/strobes in the auditorium. That way, at least, I am not solely responsible for keeping people "in the loop". As an audience member, I'd rather not have to rely on the house staff to tell me there's a fire (if there are no horns and strobes in the house, how do you notify an audience? How about the hearing impaired?). If no one responds to an official alarm, you can supplement it with an announcement (assuming it can be heard), or, the sight of the ushers opening the auditorium doors and the house lights coming up usually gets them to move. Now that I think back, no one really took the alarm seriously until I brought the house lights up. I guess that's an official "this show is stopping" signal to them. Saying there are "technical difficulties" may not carry enough urgency. "An emergency has been detected in the building", while scary and mysterious, may be a better choice.

[porkchop]

Does anyone ever really panic and rush for the exits when Les' whoop-whoop alarms go off? It seems to me the alarms have become so frequent and ubiquitous as to be totally disregarded in most cases. Aka "boy who cried wolf" syndrome. Except in an institutional setting where proper procedure is drilled (as in fire drilled) into the participants. Now IF I received a text or Twitter message on my iPhone telling me there was a fire, I might consider evacuating. There's an urban myth here in Las Vegas that goes, "If it's a woman's voice, you can ignore it. However, if a male voice tells you to evacuate, do it!" After twenty years working in casinos, I've never heard the male voice.

That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. I've been in so many hotels where the fire alarm goes off, half the people I work with don't even open their door to look for smoke anymore yet alone actually evacuate. I think when the actors leave that stage and the house lights come up the audience would get the idea, but I wouldn't worry about panic if the people interacting with the audience stayed calm and collected.

[EustaceM]

In my instance the fire alarm was triggered by the haze machine located stage-right. I picked up a god mic and asked audience members to exit building, then got on comms and told a crew member to round up the dancers and take them out. I had a crew member (who all had 2-way radios) at every door. Waited with the supervisor for security and fireman to turn off the alarms. After an okay I had each crew member let everyone know the performance will continue. Rounded up the dancers, unplugged hazer (after we were told to cut it) and continued the performance from the top of that number few minutes later.

I gave the order to "evacuate" because that's what I thought we should do.

[JChenault]

Its interesting that this thread just came back to life - as last night I was attending a performance where the SM stopped the show.

House to half, House out. Actors come on and start moving three set pieces in a shift light. Other actors come in for an opening moment. Humm it looks like one of the set pieces is in trouble. It's not moving and it seems to be coming apart.

Lights come up on actors. A moment pause - The SM comes on the lound speaker and says something like 'Hold please. Ladies and gentleman due to technical difficulties we have to stop the show for a moment. Please stay in your seats and we will restart momentarily. The Duke who is standing CS looks at his fellow actors - nods - and they all go off. Stage hands start looking at the unit. The house manager comes on and says we will restart in five minutes. They do a quick repair but do not use the unit that evening.

Show restarts from the top. Best production of "As You Like It" that I have ever seen.

[Les]

I gave the order to "evacuate" because that's what I thought we should do.

You did the right thing. Murphy's Law says that the one time you assume it's the haze machine, it isn't.

[museav]

You did the right thing. Murphy's Law says that the one time you assume it's the haze machine, it isn't.

I would agree if it was a discretionary announcement. However, if the fire alarm was triggered then code usually dictates that the alarm system and the fire officials when they arrive on site handle all related annunciation and announcements. You usually want to avoid untrained individuals making unapproved announcements over the house system and that, including it potentially interfering with the desired signaling, is exactly why some life safety codes require shutting down or muting the house audio. I strongly suggest that you discuss this with the local fire officials, AHJ and building authorities so that you all have an understanding of and agreement on the proper procedures (and ideally to get their interpretation in writing so that it can become documented procedure).

[EustaceM]

Quick question:

Is there a standard fire announcement speech to say before curtain and what to say in case fire-alarm goes off again? Word-for-word.

I'm going to post the fire announcement in all the booths and keep them both in my future prompt books.
(all I need is to set up the announce feature on the telex system we have to the soundboard)

[derekleffew]

Story of how a true and seasoned professional handles a performance disruption:
Justin Bieber Unplugged: Pop Singer Continues To Perform After Power Outage At Apollo Theater

The singer was nearing the end of a private show in front of a packed house when the power for most of the stage instruments suddenly went out, said his manager, Scooter Braun.

"Then we hear the fire alarm," Braun said by phone Monday evening. "Literally, the boy blew up the Apollo — he heated up the Apollo."

But Bieber still managed to finish his show, with the help of fans singing along with him.

[museav]

Quick question:

Is there a standard fire announcement speech to say before curtain and what to say in case fire-alarm goes off again? Word-for-word.

I'm going to post the fire announcement in all the booths and keep them both in my future prompt books.
(all I need is to set up the announce feature on the telex system we have to the soundboard)

A general announcement prior to a show is one thing, but as far as any announcement once an alarm is triggered the idea is:

1. That any announcement made is appropriate for the situation.
2. That all announcements are annunciated clearly and calmly.
3. That the message is intelligible to the audience.
4. That the announcement system is appropriate for the use and everything will work properly when needed.
5. That the operation and results are repeatable.
6. That any 'live' announcements or audio do not interfere with or reduce the effectiveness of other life safety annunciation systems.
7. That the appropriate authorities and parties have assessed and approved the message and the systems used to deliver it.

The reality is that some of those goals much less than a certainty during emergency situations when the human factor as well as the physical systems potentially involved are considered. And that is why it is often desired to use systems intended specifically for the purpose and to automate the operation while limiting any human role to qualified professionals.

So please communicate with the local authorities and probably also your insurer to verify the appropriate response before doing anything else. They may simply offer some guidelines, but they may also tell you to avoid making any announcements after a life safety alarm is triggered or may even require that the house audio be muted or powered off in such an event.

[JChenault]

Story of how a true and seasoned professional handles a performance disruption:
Justin Bieber Unplugged: Pop Singer Continues To Perform After Power Outage At Apollo Theater

The singer was nearing the end of a private show in front of a packed house when the power for most of the stage instruments suddenly went out, said his manager, Scooter Braun.

"Then we hear the fire alarm," Braun said by phone Monday evening. "Literally, the boy blew up the Apollo — he heated up the Apollo."

But Bieber still managed to finish his show, with the help of fans singing along with him.

Many years ago I was attending a Rotary club meeting with my father. The local high school coach bragged on one of his boys that he had taken a hard hit but finished the game anyway. The next day a medical exam found some fractured vertebra. I had a moment of cognitive dissonance that the coach was bragging about one of his players doing something that could have put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

I had a similar moment reading the story. " The lights went out, Then we hear the fire alarm" And Bieber still managed to finish the show.

If you hear a fire alarm, get the audience out of the building. Get yourself out of the building. That is the smart thing to do. That is the moral thing to do. That is the manly thing to do. (IMHO)

[Chris15]

... but if you want to continue the concert in the carpark / other designated assembly area, that seems like a good way to keep the audience occupied and away from the building...

[StewTech]

The school I used to go to had a simple policy; if the fire curtain did not drop, then we did not panic.

Actually, the SM would call "Hold, please" over coms, and project it to the actors onstage. He/She then would use the PA to make an announcement. If, for any reason, there needed to be an evacuation, the audience was instructed to leave the theatre via the emergency doors, and the actors/technicians would leave in an orderly fashion via the stage door. The only people who had some problems (in theory) were the spot ops; because they would have to exit via the catwalk to the midrail and down a ladder.

However, in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, the SM would pull the firecurtain, which also opens air vents in the ceiling, and we would proceed to crawl to the grid and out the air vents; in this emergency situation, the spot ops had the advantage.

[dancarden]

i have to be honest. im surprised anyone who runs a show doesnt know how to stop one and keep an audience calm if they need to exit the building. there are very well thought through procedures that many of us have had drummed into us over the years. most of which has been covered in the above comments. i think the most important thing is the staff. if a show is stopped and working lights/house lights have to go on then its imperative that the DSM or SM or whoever is given the job of being in control should enter the performance area with a mic if the venue is large and with a calm and friendly manner inform the audience that due to unforseen circumstances they must walk to the exits and congregate outside in the designated area. whilst this is happening the heads of department ensure their staff have left and when happy they can account for the people they are responsible for should leave the building themselves. once the DSM/SM is happy that the auditorium is clear then they should go to a designated place that is separate from the audience and count the staff. its important that every member of staff has a job to do in this situation. the front of house staff assist with the audience but one of them must be the leader. when the audience have left then the FOH staff leave behind them but the leader/s check the toilets and then leave. the lady who serves the coffee etc is responsible to make sure the kitchen is empty etc etc. if everyone knows their particular role then a building can be emptied safely very quickly. rehearsal in fire drills is vital. its not until you do this that you will see clearly where your weak points are. if anyone is unsure of what to do then just invite the local fire safety officer to visit and advise you. they are more than happy to help.

[Sayen]

It's worth mentioning again that crowds like to be told what to do. In public, people go with the herd - if no one moves towards an exit, they won't either. If you calmly announce that they need to exit and where to go, they'll do it. I've had to do this on two occasions. When the fire alarm went off both times people just sat there, until directed via mic what to do.

Remember you don't just need to evacuate, you need to tell them where to go. Our theater opens right up onto a fire lane, so our announcement asks audience members to move to the lawn until the situation has been inspected.

You should also go over the emergency plans with performers. It seems common for a space to cover emergency plans with the crew and staff, but actors and particularly traveling performers need instructions too. Think of it as an in-flight briefing.

[museav]

The school I used to go to had a simple policy; if the fire curtain did not drop, then we did not panic.

Actually, the SM would call "Hold, please" over coms, and project it to the actors onstage. He/She then would use the PA to make an announcement. If, for any reason, there needed to be an evacuation, the audience was instructed to leave the theatre via the emergency doors, and the actors/technicians would leave in an orderly fashion via the stage door. The only people who had some problems (in theory) were the spot ops; because they would have to exit via the catwalk to the midrail and down a ladder.

However, in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, the SM would pull the firecurtain, which also opens air vents in the ceiling, and we would proceed to crawl to the grid and out the air vents; in this emergency situation, the spot ops had the advantage.

Just curious, but was that process and plan reviewed and approved by the school administration, their insurer and the AHJ? I wondered as the vents referenced sound like smoke vents which are usually intended to draw smoke and hot gases away from exit paths and out the vents, thus it would be unusual to use them as a planned exit path.

Another question, this one to everyone, but when you make an announcement for people to exit, how do you know you aren't making things worse? I get the impression that many are thinking in terms of emergencies happening in the Auditorium or on stage and getting everyone out but that is not necessarily the only thing that may trigger an alarm in the auditorium. If the fire alarm sounds do you know what is happening and adjust your response accordingly? Code usually requires that the perimeter construction of an auditorium create a rated fire separation that may be breached if the doors are open, hardly desired if actually separating the space from a fire. Code also requires multiple exit paths specifically to address the potential of an exit path being blocked or unavailable, do your announcements and responses address the potential of blocked or unsafe paths? Do you know if the fire may be in an adjacent space and thus to not send people out that way or to avoid opening the doors separating them from the fire?

What I find really interesting in this is how many times I have been required, by code and/or by the AHJ, to disable or mute the house audio system during any life safety alarm conditions. It is difficult to reconcile using announcements via the house audio system as part of the emergency procedures being appropriate after multiple experiences that required muting or disabling the house audio system during emergencies.

[gafftaper]

What I find really interesting in this is how many times I have been required, by code and/or by the AHJ, to disable or mute the house audio system during any life safety alarm conditions. It is difficult to reconcile using announcements via the house audio system as part of the emergency procedures being appropriate after multiple experiences that required muting or disabling the house audio system during emergencies.

Alright now I'm confused. Do these AHJ's expect people to spontaneously get up and exit the theater in a well organized fashion? Is the building staff supposed to just walk out the door and not do anything to try to get the audience out too? It seems to me that there is a huge burden on the building staff to do everything in their power to get the audience safely out of the building. But what you are talking about sounds like, AHJ's and insurance companies are telling you that we have to totally trust the audience to follow the alarm system and figure it out for themselves.

Code also requires multiple exit paths specifically to address the potential of an exit path being blocked or unavailable, do your announcements and responses address the potential of blocked or unsafe paths? Do you know if the fire may be in an adjacent space and thus to not send people out that way or to avoid opening the doors separating them from the fire?

That really doesn't sound right, this sounds like a bunch of insurance company lawyer C.Y.A. What if you are in a building that wasn't built in the last 5 years and all there is, is a single fire alarm that doesn't give you any sort of routing information? Are we supposed to wait for the fire department to arrive to direct the evacuation? That's nuts! It makes far more sense from a simple common sense point of view to have the ability to get on a mic and calmly say, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you please calmly exit in a orderly manner through the doors to your left and right. We will bring you back in and resume the show as soon as we are sure it is safe to do so." True I have no idea where the fire is at but I need to do my best to get the people out of the building. The house P.A. is the best way to do that.

I'm not arguing with you Brad, I'm sure this is what you are being told to do. I just don't get it.

However, in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, the SM would pull the firecurtain, which also opens air vents in the ceiling, and we would proceed to crawl to the grid and out the air vents; in this emergency situation, the spot ops had the advantage.

As MuseAV points out, that sounds like a great way to get roasted in a plume of hot toxic gasses. Smoke Vents are NOT the way to escape a fire.

[josh88]

I think he wasnt saying "in case of a fire" I assumed by the zombie apocalypse reference the threat would be hordes of zombies at all the doors so going out the hatch would be the best choice.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[museav]

That really doesn't sound right, this sounds like a bunch of insurance company lawyer C.Y.A. What if you are in a building that wasn't built in the last 5 years and all there is, is a single fire alarm that doesn't give you any sort of routing information? Are we supposed to wait for the fire department to arrive to direct the evacuation? That's nuts! It makes far more sense from a simple common sense point of view to have the ability to get on a mic and calmly say, "Ladies and gentlemen, would you please calmly exit in a orderly manner through the doors to your left and right. We will bring you back in and resume the show as soon as we are sure it is safe to do so." True I have no idea where the fire is at but I need to do my best to get the people out of the building. The house P.A. is the best way to do that.

If the house PA is the best option then why are many sound system designers and installers required by AHJs to disable, mute or power off the house audio systems? I think there are two common reasons for this.

One is that NFPA 72 has numerous requirements for visual and audible signaling systems, requirements such as using devices approved for that use and the systems being monitored and on emergency power. NFPA 72 also contains several performance requirements for voice evacuation systems including specific level and intelligibility requirements. Do all of the house systems being used for announcements meet those requirements and have they been approved for that use? I know of one venue that planned to use the PA system for voice evacuation and when that system did not meet the performance requirements for that use it became one cause for denying a Certificate of Occupancy, which delayed opening until the system could be modified to provide the required performance, which incurred additional costs that in turn resulted in huge lawsuits.

The other likely reason is that NFPA requires any audible annunciation or voice evacuation system to be at least 15dB (SPL) above the ambient noise level.. If you have both audible alarms and make announcements then how do you achieve that for both systems? Unless you get into frequency band splitting or other similar approaches you can't have a signal that is 15dB above another signal that in turn has to be 15dB above the first signal. So you instead eliminate any sound sources that may compete with the installed signaling devices, such as the house audio system.

Where voice evacuation is required it is commonly an integral part of the life safety system. Those systems are designed to avoid voice announcements competing with audible alarms. They can also be programmed to respond based on input from and output to multiple zones. And they have to be tested and approved.

I'm not arguing that the announcements may seem to make sense. What I am saying is that using house systems for life safety announcements does not necessarily seem to be in alignment with code, so it seems worthwhile to make sure that all the parties involved review and approve the related systems, announcements and procedures before implementing announcements over the house system as part of your life safety alarm response.

[ruinexplorer]

The facility where I was TD back in 1998 had the system more comparable to what Brad describes. This was a three theater facility where if the fire alarm were tripped, we had a panel which indicated where the signal originated, the automatic system would strobe, sound a horn, and play an announcement. The panel was located at the backstage entrance, in the security office. The security officer would indicate where the alarm originated so that I could investigate the source and give better detailed instruction should they be required. The security officer could then use a handset mic to give further instructions through the fire alarm system.

At a state run theater (built in the 60's) where I freelanced installed a similar alarm system when going through some facility upgrades. However, this panel was located in the SR wing as it was a single performance space and allowed us to monitor the system during a fire-watch if required by a show. Let me tell you how sick of the horn/message I was by the time they had finished testing it.

As theaters make any changes, they have to consider that they may have a lot more upgrading than bargained for, especially if your life safety systems are not up to current code.

[museav]

Let me tell you how sick of the horn/message I was by the time they had finished testing it.

No matter how hard you try, it inevitably seems that when you are trying to tune the audio systems will also be when they test the life safety system.


To restate my overall point, announcements during an emergency may be desirable or even required. And while separate house and life safety audio systems are by far the most common, there are audio systems that serve both 'house' audio and life safety use. However, those systems are specifically designed and tested to comply with all applicable code requirements for the life safety use. An audio system that is not designed and approved for voice evacuation use may not only may be ineffective in that role, it could end up interfering with the effectiveness of other life safety systems. So rather than assuming that making announcements over your house system in the event of a life safety emergency is a good idea, verify that your administration/management, insurer and AHJ all agree.