I'm surprised that I haven't seen this mentioned, but my understanding of fire code (with the caveat that it can vary from locality to locality) is that it generally requires that if a space has a fire curtain, it should be closed when the space is not occupied. I think this is mostly to prevent or slow the spread of any possible fire, but also serves to reduce the chance of falling-into-the-pit injuries. I'm sure Bill Conner can correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Kevin McCoy
As I believe [user]BillConnerASTC[/user] mentioned in another thread, it is part of the NFPA code -- however, adoption of that code in its entirety or in fragments of it and enforcement is on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis.
I know of very few theatres equipped with fire curtains that are intended to be cycled regularly. In my theatre, raising the curtain back up requires dismantling the rope lock on the first counterweight set and hand-cranking it up. Most theatres in my area, of those that have fire curtains, they are of the varieties that require they be hand-cranked back up (I know at least 4 theatres nearby that are technically considered platforms instead of stages and therefore need no fire curtain by code). I would be surprised if any theaters with non-automated fire curtains were dropping them in every night.
When I last spoke about the subject with our AHJ, they weren't familiar with the code in question. When they learned about it and saw the great inconvenience it was, they did not expect us to do it. We do still schedule a cycling of the curtain annually each time our contractors come in to inspect/recharge fire extinguishers, hoses, sprinklers.
Maybe in 30 years when fire curtains are more across-the-board automated they'll serve a role in keeping people away from open holes in the stage floor, but a minor one at best. The rarity aside that any given theatre is deploying their fire curtain each night, not all theatres require fire curtains(thrusts, arena, "platforms"), fire curtains are not deployed when stages have the greatest amounts of foot traffic (load-in, load-out, rehearsals, performances), fire curtains do nothing to prevent someone entering from the house to walk up onto the apron of a stage where the pit may be open, nor do they prevent anyone on stage from falling into an open hole that may exist elsewhere on stage for equipment lifts and traps.
Fire curtains are an ineffective means of preventing falls into open holes. The times that they are in place and may prevent a potential fall, other -- more reliable -- means of fall prevention should already be in place.