Is there any existing fire code in circulation that states fire curtains should be closed each night a theatre is dark?
Our building & grounds supervisor and arts center manager got a hold of a book about schools and theatres they seem to be recognizing as legal fire codes; I haven't seen the book yet but it sounded like a Dr. Doom book, but I didn't think his book seemed that code-oriented.
Now they're going to ask our rigger if they need to, and how they would modify the fire curtain system so that it could be manually raised and lowered without having to hand crank it up and down. Let's face it, our system was designed to come crashing down, and attempts to raise it to be slow and futile. However, they're recognizing this book as legal code. I told the arts center manager that I think that's a book that is not legal code, and info in it merely firm suggestions. However, he said the tone of the book was that it was intended as code, but I brought up NFPA as an example, that even though NFPA has to be adopted and that simply because it's written in a book doesn't mean that a given area acknowledges it. He said he'd bring the book in for me to look at, but I think they've scared themselves unreasonably into spotting a school theatre safety book and immediately assuming it to be a legally-adopted code that they are in violation of. I have seen no theatres though where the fire curtain is intended to be raised manually via something less a PITA than the hand crank that is so convenient it could be used each and every day.
Additionally, the suggestion seems a little odd, as fire curtains are intended to prevent smoke and fire from spreading into the audience so quickly that they do not have time to evacuate, but who is it protecting if the theatre is dark?
Our building & grounds supervisor and arts center manager got a hold of a book about schools and theatres they seem to be recognizing as legal fire codes; I haven't seen the book yet but it sounded like a Dr. Doom book, but I didn't think his book seemed that code-oriented.
Now they're going to ask our rigger if they need to, and how they would modify the fire curtain system so that it could be manually raised and lowered without having to hand crank it up and down. Let's face it, our system was designed to come crashing down, and attempts to raise it to be slow and futile. However, they're recognizing this book as legal code. I told the arts center manager that I think that's a book that is not legal code, and info in it merely firm suggestions. However, he said the tone of the book was that it was intended as code, but I brought up NFPA as an example, that even though NFPA has to be adopted and that simply because it's written in a book doesn't mean that a given area acknowledges it. He said he'd bring the book in for me to look at, but I think they've scared themselves unreasonably into spotting a school theatre safety book and immediately assuming it to be a legally-adopted code that they are in violation of. I have seen no theatres though where the fire curtain is intended to be raised manually via something less a PITA than the hand crank that is so convenient it could be used each and every day.
Additionally, the suggestion seems a little odd, as fire curtains are intended to prevent smoke and fire from spreading into the audience so quickly that they do not have time to evacuate, but who is it protecting if the theatre is dark?