Small Fire Breaks Out at Rihanna Concert
BY MIKE FLEEMAN
Rihanna: Fire Breaks Out at Concert : People.com
BY MIKE FLEEMAN
Rihanna: Fire Breaks Out at Concert : People.com
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Small Fire Breaks Out at Rihanna Concert
- Thread startervenuetech
- Start date
From Rihanna concert ends early in Dallas due to fire - CNN.com :
If it was a spot chair (the only reason I know for a chair being on a truss), what happened to the operator? Truss spot ops don't normally have portable fire extinguishers, but perhaps they should.
It was nervous and was trying to run away...but its "cord didn't have any slack, so it couldn't move".
I'll see if anyone gets the joke...
I'm curious about this mysterious electricity to fire converter you have, where can I get one and how does it work?
Les
Well-Known Member
IMHO, that whole incident was handled poorly by the stadium staff. The house lights should have come on quicker and instructions given to the audience MUCH sooner. When something like that happens, the audience is just looking for information, guidance, and especially reassurance. Without that, you may be looking at a stampede for the doors.
During productions that I do, we have a microphone in the booth plugged into the last channel on our board "just in case". If it hits the fan, we can immediately communicate with the audience. Maybe more productions should do the same.
Also, I found pretty good video of the incident here:
YouTube - Rihanna stage sets on fire BEST VIEW & (GAY) COMMENTARY
During productions that I do, we have a microphone in the booth plugged into the last channel on our board "just in case". If it hits the fan, we can immediately communicate with the audience. Maybe more productions should do the same.
Also, I found pretty good video of the incident here:
YouTube - Rihanna stage sets on fire BEST VIEW & (GAY) COMMENTARY
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I also do the same thing now. Some years ago during a show we had someone pull the fire alarm by accident. No one in the audience moved! They just sat and waited while someone came and reset the alarm. Luckily it was a false alarm. Had it been a real fire, I would have needed to announce to the audience to calmly leave the auditorium. Since then I've always had a mic in the booth ready to go.
Pretty scary flaming debris coming off of whatever that was, but, thankfully, whatever was underneath it (can't really tell) stood up fine.
I'd agree with DrPinto on the announcement issue, but at the same time you never wan't to go over the PA to an audience of tens of thousands of people in a confined space without being entirely sure you aren't about to make the situation worse. The phrasing and tone-of-voice are probably more important than the words themselves, so jumping on the PA before being sure of what you're going to say wouldn't be at all advisable. A calm, cool, and collected announcement that calms the audience's jitters and keeps things under control is what to aim for, no matter whether it's a "minor" electrical fire or a major life-threatening emergency.
I'd agree with DrPinto on the announcement issue, but at the same time you never wan't to go over the PA to an audience of tens of thousands of people in a confined space without being entirely sure you aren't about to make the situation worse. The phrasing and tone-of-voice are probably more important than the words themselves, so jumping on the PA before being sure of what you're going to say wouldn't be at all advisable. A calm, cool, and collected announcement that calms the audience's jitters and keeps things under control is what to aim for, no matter whether it's a "minor" electrical fire or a major life-threatening emergency.
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I've given that a lot of thought. You definitely wouldn't want to say "Fire!!! Everyone leave now!!!". More people would be injured or killed because of trampling than the fire. It would be very important to speak calmly, slowly, clearly, and reinforce the need to remain calm.
What do you think about raising the house lights? Should you first make the announcement before turning the lights on? I'm concerned that if you raised the house lights first, people would start running for the door.
I'n my opinion, while they may not like it, I'd leave them in the dark. When lights come up, it doesn't matter what for, people start standing up to leave - and talking, texting, updating their Facebook status. Until we know what is going on, and what everyone is doing, they can sit and wait.
And just thinking "aloud", while being in the dark may hint to something being wrong, the houselights coming up mid-scene or at a point where you just "know" that it isn't intermission is more horrifying then waiting.
(Oh, I like the commentary in the video DrPinto linked to! From the comments: )
Have fun!
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shiben
Well-Known Member
Actually 3 minutes is a pretty good response time to get a fire extinguisher onto a truss, its faster than the police or fire department here by a significant factor... I did notice a lot of hands on stage wandering around looking up like "well, nothing is going to get spread to by the fire, so its kind of contained... Well, we need to put that out... Look at the pretty fire!" type of look on them. I also loved the "it is going to burn thru all those wires! The whole thing will fall!" Is that a significant risk in this type of situation?
The power was NOT killed if SEVERAL MLs began doing whatever they wanted... even if the DMX was caught in the fire, that wouldn't somehow power the lights that went AWOL on SR.
Also, I applaud the crew for how quickly they got the arena lights on, considering that someone was probably not sitting next to the switch.
I think 3 minutes is an incredible response time to get an extinguisher as well!!! If we had the same problem, we would need to wait for someone to find a winch key, and would have to slowly winch the electric down to the stage (which takes 1.5-2 mins)... total time 4-5mins+
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