I hope I'm posting this in the right area and that those who read it find it interesting on some level. Read on knowing that not a soul was harmed at any point.
A few months ago, a venue that I work for quite often was undergoing some fire marshal mandated testing of its deluge curtain. For those of you who do not know what a deluge curtain is, essentially it is a giant wall of water that falls from the top of the proscenium to the stage in case of a fire to prevent smoke from crossing the proscenium from the stage into the house. At least that's how I understand them. There's a CB thread on them here:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/general-advice/6158-deluge-fire-safety-systems.html
Any who. During this test, the contractor who was testing the curtain decided that it was in working order and went to "reset it". Unfortunately, he didn't do that correctly (I don't know the details on what exactly he did wrong) and some time after he had left the stage, the curtain spontaneously activated itself, dumping thousands of gallons of water on to our stage. This massive downpour caused 2 of our counter-weighted line sets to run away, and in doing so, they threw 45lb bricks around like rag dolls, damaging one of the metal cables used to move one of our four motorized electrics.
The water also ruined many soft goods which were in the air for a production that was in rehearsal at the time, as well as our very nice main curtain (is there another word for that?).
Additionally, our motorized pit, which leads into our basement (where we store fixtures and soft goods that are not in the air) was flooded. There was quite a bit of water down there. Anything near the ground was ruined and had to be repaired and the pit had to be thoroughly examined for damage (although fortunately it was unharmed).
It gets better. Remember that damaged cable for the motorized electric? Our TD noticed this damage after the water had been shut off. Some one was brought in to look at it, and in the process of replacing the cable, took the line out past its limit, causing the cable to slip from its drum, sending the whole electric plummeting to the stage.
Just some good 'ol times at work. We're still to this day trying to fix all of the Mac2ks lost in this week. Fortunately, the stage itself was okay after a little work, and we avoided mold by going dark for around two weeks and filling the building with de-humidifiers that were constantly on.
It was quite the disaster and we're lucky that everything turned out as good as it did. Only a few things were irreparably damaged, and they have sense been replaced (yay insurance money!). It was quite the learning experience seeing how everyone handled such an unexpected set back.
Any who, I just thought I'd share that. Any questions or comments feel free to post.
A few months ago, a venue that I work for quite often was undergoing some fire marshal mandated testing of its deluge curtain. For those of you who do not know what a deluge curtain is, essentially it is a giant wall of water that falls from the top of the proscenium to the stage in case of a fire to prevent smoke from crossing the proscenium from the stage into the house. At least that's how I understand them. There's a CB thread on them here:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/general-advice/6158-deluge-fire-safety-systems.html
Any who. During this test, the contractor who was testing the curtain decided that it was in working order and went to "reset it". Unfortunately, he didn't do that correctly (I don't know the details on what exactly he did wrong) and some time after he had left the stage, the curtain spontaneously activated itself, dumping thousands of gallons of water on to our stage. This massive downpour caused 2 of our counter-weighted line sets to run away, and in doing so, they threw 45lb bricks around like rag dolls, damaging one of the metal cables used to move one of our four motorized electrics.
The water also ruined many soft goods which were in the air for a production that was in rehearsal at the time, as well as our very nice main curtain (is there another word for that?).
Additionally, our motorized pit, which leads into our basement (where we store fixtures and soft goods that are not in the air) was flooded. There was quite a bit of water down there. Anything near the ground was ruined and had to be repaired and the pit had to be thoroughly examined for damage (although fortunately it was unharmed).
It gets better. Remember that damaged cable for the motorized electric? Our TD noticed this damage after the water had been shut off. Some one was brought in to look at it, and in the process of replacing the cable, took the line out past its limit, causing the cable to slip from its drum, sending the whole electric plummeting to the stage.
Just some good 'ol times at work. We're still to this day trying to fix all of the Mac2ks lost in this week. Fortunately, the stage itself was okay after a little work, and we avoided mold by going dark for around two weeks and filling the building with de-humidifiers that were constantly on.
It was quite the disaster and we're lucky that everything turned out as good as it did. Only a few things were irreparably damaged, and they have sense been replaced (yay insurance money!). It was quite the learning experience seeing how everyone handled such an unexpected set back.
Any who, I just thought I'd share that. Any questions or comments feel free to post.