Paris Terrorist Attacks

StradivariusBone

StradivariusBone

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/13/europe/bataclan-paris-shooting-witness/

Thoughts and prayers to our brothers and sisters in Paris tonight.

I try to prepare my tech theatre kids for all sorts of emergency situations and safety precautions. What to do if an audience member becomes ill, if a curtain catches fire, if a tornado strikes the building.

It is a sad commentary that we need to be mindful of people doing this sort of thing in our venues.
 
As of right now, some crew members of the Eagles of Death Metal, who were performing at the Bataclan concert hall when it was attacked, are still unaccounted for. If anyone knows any of these guys and hears any news, please pass it along.
 
Early reports were a band member died. Those seem to be not true.
One crew member dead, the other shot.

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http://bnonews.com/news/index.php/mobile/id2541
 
FOH is a dangerous location in an attack like this. I would like to think this would never happen here in the US but that would be naive. You almost have to start thinking about locations of cover and exits paths you have. Always thought of the later due to fire concerns, but the world is changing.
Considering the level of the attack and the fact that there were about 1500 in attendance, things could have turned out a lot worse. I am sure that does little to comfort the families of those who lost loved ones in there, as well as those still in the hospitals. My prayers are with them all.
 
This is a sad state for all.

Evacuation plans should always be done. What else? Bullet proof FOH walls?
 
I'm not sure you can effectively prepare for something of this scale and nature. The extent to which you can prevent something like this is to have access controls in place and have security screening at the entrance, with a mechanism in place for locking the building down in a crisis — a mechanism which by its nature must operate in such a way that it could cut off all ingress and leave people to fend for themselves at the main doors.

As for evacuation, you can't know whether or not the goal is to smoke people out of the building in the first place and into the open where they could then be attacked.

It's one thing to prepare for an active shooter scenario. It's another thing entirely to try to protect your venue under siege.

You can do all the planning you want, but in a situation like that everything happens so fast you wouldn't know what was happening in time to assess the situation and activate whatever safety measures you may be able to scrape together.

If attackers lay siege to your venue and have suicide vests, several dozen national security measures have failed you and unless you happen to have a secret service detail on your staff, I don't see how any preparedness plan can mitigate the damage they intend to cause.

I'm actually very surprised the one bomber tried to get through security into the stadium and got caught. (Getting "caught" here meaning he detonated his device). If he wanted to inflict harm to a large number of people, he could've gotten the crowds when they were in line going in or on their way out at the end of the match. My estimation is he knew he would probably be caught but that on the off-chance he did make it through, he could blow himself up on live TV or next to President Hollande — which is to say any preparedness plan you may put in place should account for the grave likelihood that those trying to enforce it will die trying, and any plan that hinges on someone sacrificing themselves is a plan that with an incredible likelihood of failure. Most venues' security staffs are qualified to handle drunks, not suicide bombers.


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On tour I always count the steps and direction to the nearest exit stairwell from my hotel room. I also frequently eyeball alternate exits in restaurants and theaters (150k miles flown a year makes you always know the nearest emergency exit and alternate).
 
There really is no way to prepare for this beside GTFO plans. My venue is on a government center. Every vehicle that comes into our dock is screen by state police. Every parking lot has a screening point. I have truck barriers on our dock. You can only access our venue via elevators. Even with all that, it wouldn't do any good if they got through the elevators. Wouldn't be hard to take one over from our elevator operator and go. After that, your in a concrete bowl 5 stories about ground with few exits. We do our fire drills but there is really not any way to plan for this. You can't. Short of not allowing an audience in and just live streaming everything this kind of thing is just going to happen. Just be happy you (most likely) live in the western world where this thing does not happen that often. There are some parts of the world where this amount of dead in one day is not an abnormality.
 
For those of you looking to tighten security in the wake of last week's events, I have talked with both Homeland security and the FBI in the past. I would assume that they would meet with any of you who have concerns.
 
JD said:
Interesting link on the facebook site "The Show Must Go On" to an article about what to do at a gig should this happen.
http://www.jimonlight.com/2015/11/20/what-if-im-attacked-at-work-a-crew-primer-part-1/
Click to expand...

Not really crazy about that. If that guy showed up carrying to a gig I employed him for he would be walked out in cuffs no questions asked. Also, if you think you can make a shot and drop a guy in a crowded dark theatre you are insane. Half the time you can't figure out what drunk is making the noise let alone which person is shooting and which person is not.

This crap is a total crapshoot. Mrs. Footer has family members that were both involved in and killed in an active shooter situation. The family still lives in the same town it happened in. Her cousin sends her kid to school at the same school it happened in. You can't live like this type of thing is going to happen to you. Be prepared to GTFO. Thats it. Your much more liable to be killed in a theatre due to fire, rigging collapse, or something like that then an active shooter situation.

Our only responsibility during a show is to ensure that our patrons can flee a bad situation. Check those fire doors every show. Make sure someone doesn't have a car parked in front of an exit. Make sure you always have a dock slip free for an ambulance. Have ushers or security staff who what to do in the event of an evacuation. Run yearly fire drills with your staff and your ushers. Drill who takes house lights and when in a situation. Your duty during a show is to get the room secure if something happens and to give your audience the best chance to get the fark out. Just like you shouldn't fight the fire you shouldn't fight the active shooter. Secure the room and go.
 
I actually feel like having radios has made us a safer venue. Before, in the case of an emergency, we were only accessible through com. With a radio, I have communication with the crew, FOH, box office, and administration in two venues and four floors. If crap goes down, I'll know it instantly instead of as soon as someone in my venue reaches a headset.

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Interview from VICE with EODM should be available next week on VICE's website.


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I have many friends who perform in Cirque Du Soleil's Amaluna. They are all fine and were evacuated. Still scary and horrible.
 
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