Building Jurisdiction After Fire Alarm

[MNicolai]

Every so often here at CB in casual discussion, the question comes up about what to do if a fire alarm goes off and you're "pretty certain" it's a false alarm. Be it a deliberate false alarm from a pull station, a hazer triggering a beam smoke detector, or the sprinkler system stumbling on an air bubble in the pipes, there are a lot of different reasons a false alarm may occur.

Especially in assemblies (theatres, gymnasiums, schools, arenas), there's usually a lot going on and the last thing anyone wants is to have to evacuate hundreds or thousands of people for a false alarm, and in some cases possibly having to refund tickets. This puts many people in a position where if they feel reasonably confident the alarm is false, they would rather continue as they were without checking the building or getting the fire department involved. With there always being the possibility that the alarm may have been purposeful, we owe it to our patrons, students, friends, and coworkers to evacuate regardless.

Should the fire department arrive on the scene of a false alarm, you should not refuse them entry into the building as they have operational control of it until such time that they deem it is safe to be occupied again. The following is an interesting article on the matter, written by the New York State Education Department for schools under their jurisdiction:

From time to time the question arises, as to who is in charge of a building after sounding of the fire alarm. From informal opinion #81-13 of the Attorney General Robert Abrams, excerpted below, it is clear that once a fire alarm is sounded, "ownership" of, or jurisdiction over the building rests with the fire department.

Jurisdiction is not returned to the school authorities until the fire chief or his designee makes a determination of safety and returns the building to the person normally in charge.

The State Attorney General's opinion was in response to the following three questions:

1. After a fire alarm at a school, may the principal refuse admission to the fire fighting service, or if fire fighters have entered the building, may he order them to leave before a determination that the fire chief or his designee has inspected the premises and found them safe?
2. May a school principal, with or without the approval of or direction from his board of education, make the determination after a fire alarm whether the school is safe to be occupied regardless of whether the fire chief or his designee has inspected the premises and found them safe?
3. Does it make any difference in either answer if a fire alarm was a false alarm? (For our purpose, the term "false alarm" includes a deliberate false alarm in the traditional sense and also an alarm caused by error, accident, or malfunction of equipment.)

In his opinion, the Attorney General stated: A fire alarm at a school creates authority for firemen to enter the school and it is their duty to do so. The school principal has no authority to keep them out or determine when the fire is out and the building is safe for occupancy. A false alarm does not alter the foregoing. A fire alarm commences a chain of events that cannot be averted by many who are involved. Normal authority and individuals usually in control of areas and activities are suddenly relegated to a minor role or even excluded from participation. The fighting of fires to avoid catastrophic consequences is so fundamental a protection to society that the fire fighting force is in absolute command at the scene of a fire emergency. Fire fighters may enter any premises and building to find and fight a fire there or on nearby property. They may enter where necessary and by the use of force, if a suitable or open entryway is not available. The urgency of the event brooks no delay. A person in charge of premises, such as a school principal (or, for that matter, the board of education) cannot prevent fire fighters from entering a school if an alarm of fire at the school has been received. The fire fighters must stay at the scene until their officers have determined that the fire is out. The premises cannot be occupied until the fire fighting force finds them safe for occupancy. Until a determination of safety has been made by the fire chief or his designee, the school principal has no authority in the premises...

The fact that an alarm is a false alarm has no bearing upon the foregoing. When a fire alarm occurs, there is a fire emergency and all rights and duties revert to those which exist in case of a conflagration. Those rights and duties continue in effect until the fire chief or his designee find that there was a false alarm and/or that the premises are free from immediate danger of fire and can be occupied with safety.

The Attorney General's Informal Opinion also stated:

1. After a fire alarm at a school the principal cannot refuse admission to fire fighters or, after they are in the building, cannot require them to leave until the fire chief or his designee certifies that the fire is out and the building is safe for occupancy.
2. After a fire alarm at a school, the principal has no authority or jurisdiction to determine that a fire is out and the building is safe for occupancy. That is a function reserved to the fire fighting force.
3. The same conclusions apply, even if the alarm was a false alarm. We suggest that if there is any thought that a misunderstanding may exist as to the seat of authority if a fire emergency does occur, it would be advisable for the board of fire commissioners, or other similar body, to meet with the board of education to clarify the issue. This may save injury and property, possibly even lives, in case of a serious fire.

If your building is experiencing a series of deliberate false alarms in which you are being forced to evacuate a building or buildings repeatedly without justification, contact the fire department having jurisdiction to devise a joint plan for combating this malicious act. Bear in mind, however, that your primary responsibility is to the continuing safety of those persons occupying the building.

Source

While specific laws and regulations may differ from state to state, or even township to township, for all intents and purposes, it's best to always let the fire department do their job unimpeded, no matter how quickly you want to get the audience back into their seats.

 

[derekleffew]

...With there always being the possibility that the alarm may have been purposeful, we owe it to our patrons, students, friends, and coworkers to evacuate regardless. ...

For sake of discussion, I'll argue the opposite. Las Vegas, having been the site of a few catastropic acccidents, has some of the most stringent fire laws in the country. And yet, when an alarm is triggered, a soothing British female voice says "The cause of the alarm is being investigated. Please remain calm and where you are. We will let you know if any further action is necessary." (paraphrasing slightly).

It doesn't matter if the alarm happens during the day, night, or the official press opening of a $100 million show.
From Halt in 'Viva Elvis' premiere reminiscent of Elvis' debut in 1969 at International - The Kats Report - Las Vegas Sun :

On Friday night a fire alarm was tripped in the "Viva Elvis" theater, halting the Cirque show's opening number, "Blue Suede Shoes." There was no smoke or fire apparent in the hotel, but for a few minutes the audience sat confused while full power to the venue was restored.

 

[photoatdv]

Agreed. At one on my venues we don't evacuate people unless several alarms go off (don't know quite how it works) or the fire watch finds smoke/fire. There are also no pull stations (well no audience accessible ones... the staff can obviously trigger and alarm).

Of course the fire department is called and responds regardless. If fact, they are called automatically and by our fire watch. If the fire watch doesn't call or says its real they send everyone out with hoses and axes, if the fire watch says its false they send a truck and leave the axes stowed .

EDIT: Kids, this is a professional venue with professional staff... and our fire watch doesn't assume it's the fogger. High school is not the place for this. We do it because of the very real danger from evacuation of people who don't have fire drills every month in school!

 

[MNicolai]

'Tis true that some of the most deadly incidents are due to trampling and people panicking rather than an actual fire or emergency, and to have people get trampled on a false alarm is senseless. Still, I'd want to get people out calmly before they see smoke, because once they see smoke or flame, panic sets in and more people get injured in the rush to the door than by smoke inhalation or flames.

I'd defer to Teqniqal, but his account's not seen any activity in the last several months.

 

[teqniqal]

I think the letter from the New York State Education Department quoted above sums it up pretty succinctly and logically. Tis better to err on the side of safety rather than mistakenly think that you 'know' it was a false alarm.

Ultimately, it is the AHJ that can clarify this question for you. Visit with them, explain your concerns, and ask them exactly what procedure they would prefer. Get it in writing. Do not paraphrase it. Reproduce it as published to all concerned parties (administrators, staff, students, guest artists and crews, renters, volunteers, etc.).

Mike, sorry for being a laggard at CB - the economy is warming-up.

Remember: National Fire Prevention Week is October 4-9, 2010 - Plan to have your staff and students do theatre fire safety tasks.

Fire Protection Scavenger Hunt: Draw a plan of the building and send out teams to mark the locations of any fire protection equipment (Alarm stations, bells, horns, strobes, emergency lights & battery packs), Fire Doors, Fire Curtains, Smoke Vents, Sprinkler heads, valves, flow sensors, smoke/heat detectors, Fire Extinguishers, Fire Hoses, Fire Alarm Control Panels, Exit signs (& battery packs & the Exit sign lamps actually glow). If they are really good, have them note the date of the last inspection tag, if any.

Actually have an unannounced mock fire drill during a tech rehearsal - (don't actually pull the alarm - per above) but you can see that someone goes to the nearest pull station and calls "Alarm Pulled", someone goes to the fire curtain and calls "Fire Curtain Released", people go to EACH fire door and call "Door closed" (this is a trick question - the doors should NEVER be propped-open unless held with a magnetic door holder that is tied to the fire alarm system -- see how many doors were found open that had to be closed); and if you designate a start point for the 'alleged' fire (drop an orange traffic cone on the floor with a sign taped to it that says : "This is the fire") and see who gets there first with the fire extinguisher. The list can get long for people's responsibilities, and there should be something for everyone to do, not just run out the door (screaming). Don't forget to have crew / staff that are there to instruct the crew / performers / audience (even if they are not actually there for the drill) where / how to exit and gather outside the building. It has to be ORGANIZED chaos, not just random mayhem.

 

[Les]

So, for those who may take matters in to their own hands, and choose not to evacuate a building pending their own investigation, let's not forget that there are hundreds of places in every building where a fire could be manifesting which may not be in plain sight. Attics, walls, HVAC, etc. How would all these areas (and more) get checked by informally trained staff members in a reasonable amount of time, while the audience is still in their seats.

Unless you have personnel on hand formally and officially trained in fire safety, I really feel like you should always evacuate, regardless of what you think you know. Who are you to take others' lives in to your own hands? The show can wait, tickets can be refunded, life goes on. There could be a fire while you're using a fogger. Stranger things have happened.

 

[Chris15]

There could be a fire while you're using a fogger. Stranger things have happened.

What's to say that the fogger would not indeed be the culprit? I guess more so with smoke machines, which have hot nozzles and combine that with a curtain in the wrong place or something of that nature and you may well have a fire on your hands...

 

[Les]

What's to say that the fogger would not indeed be the culprit? I guess more so with smoke machines, which have hot nozzles and combine that with a curtain in the wrong place or something of that nature and you may well have a fire on your hands...

Absolutely. I was just speaking more of the scenario of having an alarm event, cause unknown, while a fogger happens to be in use. It would be very dangerous to conclude that "it's probably just the fogger, do a quick look around the building while we tell the audience to stay in their seats."

 

[CrazyTechie]

Fire Protection Scavenger Hunt: Draw a plan of the building and send out teams to mark the locations of any fire protection equipment (Alarm stations, bells, horns, strobes, emergency lights & battery packs), Fire Doors, Fire Curtains, Smoke Vents, Sprinkler heads, valves, flow sensors, smoke/heat detectors, Fire Extinguishers, Fire Hoses, Fire Alarm Control Panels, Exit signs (& battery packs & the Exit sign lamps actually glow). If they are really good, have them note the date of the last inspection tag, if any.

This has motivated me to know the locations of all the pull stations, fire extinguishers, hoses, etc. that are in the theatre building at my college, and to make sure that as many people as possible on the crew know as well. Which is something that didn't happen at my high school...

Everyone should know where this kind of stuff is to prevent any sort of major accident.

Thanks!

 

[MNicolai]

Everyone should know where this kind of stuff is to prevent any sort of major accident.

It'd be nice to think that knowing where these things are will prevent major accidents, but in most cases that they need to be used, the emergency is already in progress and these devices serve to reduce the amount of damage.

Furthermore, coordination is also very important in the event of an emergency. My father works as a supervisor at a detention facility for juveniles. A few weeks ago in the gym a ballast went out on one of the light fixtures in the gymnasium. The ballast then heated up, started on fire some 40' above the floor and the fire very quickly caused the plastic to melt around the metal brackets holding the fixture up. The fixture then fell to the floor, still on fire, and caused the coating on the gymnasium floor to quickly catch fire. Because of the material coating the floor, the fireball caused a vast amount of smoke to build up in the room.

At some point, one of the faculty members called the fire department, but at no time did someone think to hit the pull station because the fire department was already on the way. Students and faculty in the adjacent library, as well as campus administrators like my father were completely unaware that anything was going on until the fire department showed up at the gatehouse demanding to get their trucks through both barbed wire fences.

Worse yet, apparently this isn't the first time that one of those ballasts have failed in that manner; this one just had more fizzle and pop with it than the one(s?) before it.

I'd be curious to find out what the gymnasium floor was coated with, how common that is in arenas and other athletic courts, and if anyone is aware how freaking scary that stuff is when it gets lit on fire.

 

[derekleffew]

...I'd be curious to find out what the gymnasium floor was coated with, how common that is in arenas and other athletic courts, and if anyone is aware how freaking scary that stuff is when it gets lit on fire.

I'm reminded of this thread http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/safety/6405-seattle-arena-fire-scoreboard.html , and can't help but note that the arena was not evacuated. As a matter of fact, the game was only delayed for ten mintues.

However, and I feel remiss in not mentioning this sooner (I was waiting for someone to bring up people dying from smoke inhalation while refusing to leave their slot machines during a fire, [yes, that has actually happened]): The major difference between an arena/casino and a school theatre: the latter have emergency personnel on site at all times including at least one person whose sole job it is to watch over a fire command annunciator panel, as well as 50-100 security personnel and building engineers to deal with an emergency. It's highly unlikely an educational theatre would have such resources. Therefore, the only prudent action is evacuation, with no readmission until cleared by authorities.

 

[CrazyTechie]

It'd be nice to think that knowing where these things are will prevent major accidents, but in most cases that they need to be used, the emergency is already in progress and these devices serve to reduce the amount of damage.

Let me rephrase: Everyone should know where to find and how to use all the equipment along with the proper procedures and techniques for fighting the situation currently at hand.

 

[MNicolai]

Here's what will always have me nervous: No matter how many security or emergency personnel you have, when 18,000 people think their lives are currently in, or may soon be in immediate danger, even if the risk is minimal, people might leave in a rush. Such a rush that people are crawling on top of each other to make their way to the doors. This is especially the case for situations where smoke can propagate quickly. Few things are scarier than an approaching cloud of black, probably toxic smoke.

Imagine The Station fire, but with sprinklers. I'd speculate even without the building burning to the ground, at least a few dozen would've been injured or killed in the stampede out the door. Certainly not comparable to the number that died that night in the fire, but still a lot in a situation where theoretically no one should have to enter harm's way.

 

[starksk]

Here is the way I think of it: Unless you are properly trained (with all of the appropriate certifications) to determine with 100% accuracy that there is in fact no emergency, AND you are willing to take the moral and legal liability for each and every one of your patron's, staff member's, volunteer's, and person who may be hiding in the building just looking for a warm place to sleep for the night's life; evacuate the building. You may lose some revenue that night, but it would dull in comparison to the amount awarded by a judge or jury if you make the wrong call.

Having both participated in and lead evacuations from theatres in both real and non-emergencies, I am constantly surprised at how people react when an alarm is sounded. Some people ignore it, some head straight for the doors, and a fair number wait to see what everyone else is doing. Almost everyone will try, when actually leaving, to head for the door that they came into the space through. (Makes some amount of sense, since that is the only path they remember into the place.)

Make sure you have clearly marked exits and your staff/volunteers are trained to help direct people to the closest safe exit, not just the main entrance. (Remember the closest exit may be behind you.)

Another thing that I have found is that people instantly respond to panic and uncertainty in someone's voice. If you are leading an evacuation, speak in a calm, clear, and confidently firm manner.

There is no substitute for proper planning and training to handle emergency situations. Hold drills often, mix up the scenarios and the people playing each role, and, as has been said above, make sure everyone knows the location and proper operation of every life safety device, including how to actually trigger the fire alarm from a pull station (you'd be surprised), in your facility.

 

[gafftaper]

The simple answer to all this:
Call your Fire Marshall and ask him to come over and help you put together your emergency plan. Your theater will be better prepared in knowing how to handle a problem, your theater will avoid fines due to doing the wrong thing, and no one will die.

Second point. For those in educational institutions. Teach everyone on your crew where all the pull stations and extinguishers are. Then somewhere down the road start having pop quizzes. Randomly select a crew person and say, "There's a fire right there. What do you do?" Do this as a regular drill at different times, in different locations, with different crew people.

 

[Les]

Let me rephrase: Everyone should know where to find and how to use all the equipment along with the proper procedures and techniques for fighting the situation currently at hand.

Just always remember that your primary responsibility is getting people out of the building safely, not fighting fires.

Starksk, you are exactly right on your observations of how audiences react when faced with a potential emergency. Having been present for several false alarms during community theatre productions, I have seen first hand that most people use the "wait and see" approach. It is not the mad dash for the exit that everyone would imagine. Now, if there was visible fire and smoke, the situation would surely be different, but when everything "seems" normal, most people assume it's a false alarm. Let's not let ourselves fall in to that trap. We all know what assuming makes out of 'u and me'.

Heck, one time at Lowe's, the power suddenly went out causing the fire alarms to go off. Guess what -- every one continued shopping, only now somewhat agitated by the extra noise. Large crowds sure can be fickle.

 

[museav]

The simple answer to all this:
Call your Fire Marshall and ask him to come over and help you put together your emergency plan. Your theater will be better prepared in knowing how to handle a problem, your theater will avoid fines due to doing the wrong thing, and no one will die.

Definitely! What any of us think is right or should happen does not really matter, it is what the AHJ, the venue's insurance carrier, etc. define should happen that matters.

We may also be overgeneralizing some fairly complex problems. The behavior of large groups in emergencies is one factor considered in developing the life safety and building codes and many exiting problems are often a factor of the facility being code compliant or not rather than the audience reaction. Also keep in mind that many community and educational institution arts venues may not incorporate voice annunciation instead relying on only audible alarms and visual signaling.

Finally, while your sound system may serve well for less critical applications, do not assume that your sound system should be used for announcements during life safety emergencies. Unless the audio system and components are specifically approved for such use and the system had been tested and verified to meet any applicable intelligibility criteria then it is probably best to assume the system should not be used, and perhaps should even be muted or powered down, in such situations.

 

[Chris15]

Finally, while your sound system may serve well for less critical applications, do not assume that your sound system should be used for announcements during life safety emergencies. Unless the audio system and components are specifically approved for such use and the system had been tested and verified to meet any applicable intelligibility criteria then it is probably best to assume the system should not be used, and perhaps should even be muted or powered down, in such situations.

And that's without getting into the requirements for redundancy that are needed in any life saftey system. Yes combined emergency / non emergency systems can and are built, particularly for large areas, it is normally a task best left to those you understand both sets of (at times competing) requirements.

 

[mstaylor]

I was doing an event once where we lost power, no fire, the EM generator started but the switch gear failed. We had 5000 patrons we had to clear with just baterry lights and flashlights. It was in an arena with three buidings that the fire dept had to search. It actually went better than I would had thought but the biggest problem was confusion by the crowd.

 

[len]

Personally, I'm not crazy about hanging out and waiting to find out if something is a false alarm. If I hear an alarm, I'm clearing out. I don't care what else I'm told. Happened a couple times at hotels I was staying at. Both times were false alarms, but what if they weren't.