Cue To Cue | Living behind the scenes…: On December 30th, 1903, 602 people were killed in what remains the worst theatre fire in the US. This tragedy occurred at the Iroquois Theatre, only 5 weeks old and boasting to be “fireproof”, in post “Great Fire” Chicago, the home of some of the most strict fire codes in the world, both then and now.
7 comments:
I can defiantly account for the stricter fire laws today, between fireproofing curtains and sets to fire marshal inspections, and color coding water and gas pipes. I work as a resident technical director when I am at home for a theater house that is constantly updating their spaces to pass fire codes. If fact on a single productions in one of the spaces there were two inspections because there was supposed to be a branch of a tree that was lit on fire during the production. After spraying fire retardant spray all over the tree and all the drops in the show the first fire marshal came in and held a lighter to a fake leaf he picked off of the tree until it caught on fire. I would say theaters all in all are keeping up with the times and keeping people safe.
This was horrifying to read. It seems like the theatre version of the Titanic, where it is supposedly "fire proof" so the people building it cut corners on fire safety. It is odd that so many places seem to still have an indifferent attitude toward safety, or the "it could never happen to me" mindset, when we still see tragedy all the time. I don't really remember an emphasis on fire safety on shows at my high school although Im sure we took precautions. I am really glad that CMU puts such a strong emphasis on safety in virtually every aspect of things we work on or with, because in certain things we do some of the safety concerns don't always seem readily apparent, and it is good to have that so ingrained into us.
We are constantly reminded that a theater is a dangerous place where safety rules are of the utmost importance, but only a vivid, tragic story like that of the Iroquois theater can truly illustrate just how many precautions we should actually be taking. The article brought up a very strong point when mentioning all the things we do to make a theater space more aesthetic, such as covering exit signs, that can truly turn the place into a trap. Beyond implementing new rules, the most important thing to do to prevent these terrible accidents is to create awareness throughout the country, and consistently teach emergency protocols to all theater workers.
We learned about this in OSHA. The owners of that theater did everything that could possibly cause a fire. A similar incident even happened prior to the fire. It's sad that it take a major tragedy to make people fallow safety regulations. Those 602 people shouldn't have had to die. Thats what it took for the laws to be enforced.
As Dev mentioned, we did learn about this in OSHA and it was very unfortunate especially the way that people died trying desperately to get out of the building. Every organisation should ensure that their workers and patrons are able to exit the building safely in the event of a fire or natural disaster. Ensuring that you are acting according under the current fire code should be as important as having an Emergency Action/Evacuation Plan.
The author says he often works at a theatre "across the alley from where the Iroquois stood," and he is right not to mention it by name, since, judging by the number of fire code infractions he sees there on a regular basis, no one should go there. I take a small amount of umbrage at his implied assumption that all theatres treat fire safety with equal nonchalance. Maybe I've been lucky to work with people who take the safety of their employees and patrons seriously, but fire prevention and suppression, safe egress, and good emergency planning have always been among the highest considerations in mounting productions. That being said, the author is dead right to herald the importance of personal responsibility when it comes to safety, fire and otherwise, in our performance and work spaces. In rehearsal spaces, especially, I have more than occasionally seen less attention paid to fire safety than I would like. Many of the safety mechanisms which are integrated into a theatre space are not present in the dusty church basements and other ad hoc rehearsal spaces we inhabit, and yet often the same potentially hazardous activities that will be undertaken on stage are practiced there. Fire extinguishers, clearly marked and unobstructed exits, and a designated fire marshal should always be a part of our workplace, whether we are in the shop, rehearsal or performance.
As andrew points out this author does seem to assume that most theaters treat fire code as more of a suggestion then actual codes that need to be followed. The unfortunate fact of any work field we must assume that we are the only ones looking out for ourselves. We can not fool ourselves into thinking that all venues are going to spend the money and time on safety. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that all the bean counters up in production and finance departments care about is how much money is being spent and if they can get away without spending it they will. A similar issue is older venues whom have been around since before various building and fire codes have gone into place and are "grandfathered" in without having to close because they dont meet codes. The issue there is that if something happens to the building and needs refurbishing of some sort then the entire building must be brought up to code so companies wont fix necessities like found structural flaws because they dont want to have to bring the entire building up to code.
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