Fire code

kbbear

Member
I am a TD of a large regional theatre. Of late fire code has come up for every set. for example I have to sprinkler under buildings I build if they open to my pit/trap room. how about the rest of you?
 
As long as we use flame retardation on our sets and soft goods, our guy is ok with it. Our AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) just checks those items, egress, and ingress and makes a decision based on that. Our building is only about 5 years old, so that might put us in a different position that someone with a much older facility.

~Dave
 
I am a TD of a large regional theatre. Of late fire code has come up for every set. for example I have to sprinkler under buildings I build if they open to my pit/trap room. how about the rest of you?

The room below one of our stages was once a trap room, complete with sprinklers. We just replaced our stage floor, filling in the traps (they never got used) with a 2 hr., concrete, steel and wood fire rated floor and we've been told the trap room - now a storage room, have sprinklers that are no longer required.

Thus I can understand that if you do not have existing sprinklers in the trap room, you might be in violation of local fire code. If you have sprinklers on stage, the open trap essentially makes the trap room below an extension of the stage, thus the fire marshals concerns seem valid.

Steve B.
 
We have some VERY stramge fire regulations associated with our building. We have two floors of parking garage, all of which is sprinkled with a dry pipe system. Neither of the theatres and none of the office spaces are sprinkled because of their occupancy ratings, the level of egress, and the 4 hour corridors surrounding the exit areas. I do know that several companies manufacture fire extinguishers which have nozzles just like sprinklers and can be mounted to the underside of temporary structures. I used to have to install them in Santa Land at a local mall. The use of these ABC type extinguishers might save you money over actually having to sprinkle under your sets.
 
As I found out with my recent construction project, every fire marshal is different. There is very little you can do to argue or appeal the decision. You are far better off to get ahead of issues and ask your fire marshal about questions you have. Developing a reputation as being someone safety conscious and eager to work with the marshal's office, although a pain in the butt at times will serve you well in the long run.
 
As I found out with my recent construction project, every fire marshal is different. There is very little you can do to argue or appeal the decision. You are far better off to get ahead of issues and ask your fire marshal about questions you have. Developing a reputation as being someone safety conscious and eager to work with the marshal's office, although a pain in the butt at times will serve you well in the long run.

Well worth reading twice.
 
Thanks for taking the time to answer. Being in the state that the station nightclub fire took place the fire marshels do not want to take a chance and approve anything.
 

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