When the fire alarm is going off...

[chausman]

At dinner tonight, the fire alarm went off. I'm no expert (and I think at least a few people here are) but shouldn't we all have evacuated? A few people left, but we waited to see what the wait staff/management instructed us to do. We would have left, but after about 20 seconds we heard it was a child playing with a pull station. What should the management have done?

I know this doesn't directly relate to theater, but it is a large gathering of people in a single space.

 

[avkid]

GTFO then make decisions.

 

[Edrick]

You're required to evacuate. The venue / building owners or managers have no say if you should stay. Only the fire department can give the building the clear.

Now as you mentioned the kid pulled the fire alarm so it wasnt a life threatening issue. However you should still evacuate.

 

[What Rigger?]

Yeah, gotta agree with that whole thing about getting out. I don't trust ANYbody to know better than the alarm system. If you're wrong, well then "whoopsie" and you go back into the building after a while. If you're right and the alarm is legit then you just escaped a burning building. I think it's win-win either way.

 

[shiben]

If you're right and the alarm is legit then you just escaped a burning building. I think it's win-win either way.

I suspect this is literally the only relevant thing about this situation. They install those things for a reason...

 

[gafftaper]

I know here the fire department get's VERY upset if they arrive at a public place and don't find the building fully evacuated. Even if they know it's a false alarm. Code says they have to do a walk through of the building and see the cause of the alarm in person, then rest the alarm, before anyone is allowed back in the building.

I've seen the fire department take long leisurely walks through a high school chatting while the kids are all outside freezing in the rain, to help get this message across.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

A long time ago we were in tech for a college dance concert and a leg had been pulled in front of a mid high side - no. 2 stage right if that matters after 30+ years - and they were Colortran 213s which were really hot at the focal point in front of the lens - real gel burners. Anyway, after a couple of a dancer's "I see smoke" comments being ingnored came "I see flames". I grabbed a mat knife and climbed a tallescope and cut all the tie lines, and the ball of leg was carried outside where it burst into flame. 6 month old curtains - so much for my disdain and life long mistrust of flameproofing. So looking back into the house quite a crowd had assembled, having rushed over from the nearby dorms into the theatre, all the while the **** horn is making it hard to think, making me a believer in the voice announcement requirement and not a horn in places of assembly. I've been around or put out 3 other shin kicker ignites leg fires all extinguished with a mop bucket so I guess I don't follow some of the above good advice.

Of the many building and fire code meetings I have attended twice the fire alarm has gone off and there was an orderly evacuation, including a very useful demonstration of how easy it is for four people to carry someone in a wheelchair down stairs if they are not too skinny.

 

[Nelson]

I've witnessed several fire alarm activations (all false alarms) at the school where I work. People don't leave, simple as that. Students usually will leave, especially if they are in class. The teachers are great about initiating an orderly evacuation. However, if its after hours (and especially if its a public event), no one will leave. In light of that, I always have a god mic hooked up and ready to use so that I can calmly ask the audience to evacuate if the alarm goes off.

 

[zmb]

I've been at an outdoor mall and in the most inconvenient place for a fire alarm to go off, the restroom. I left and people filing out from where I was. Once out, the staff or the fire department didn't direct us anywhere, just told us when we could go back in.

At school, Pull Station Protectors are very effective at stopping false alarms. Last year, there was one at least once a week, and once pull station covers were installed, I don't think we've had any false alarms besides accidental smoke alarm triggers (It's always the chemistry teachers).

 

[MNicolai]

At school, Pull Station Protectors are very effective at stopping false alarms. Last year, there was one at least once a week, and once pull station covers were installed, I don't think we've had any false alarms besides accidental smoke alarm triggers (It's always the chemistry teachers).

I love pull station covers. There are several rooms in our building that if you walk into when they're dark, you've got a good chance of putting your hand on the pull station while stumbling around for the light switch.