The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says firefighters have been called to Market Square downtown at least twice – including once Thursday morning – by people who reported smoke when they saw machine-generated fog that’s part of a new art installation.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Fog Machine In Art Exhibit Prompts False Fire Alarms In Market Square
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says firefighters have been called to Market Square downtown at least twice – including once Thursday morning – by people who reported smoke when they saw machine-generated fog that’s part of a new art installation.
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I have very mixed feelings when it comes to fog machines. On one hand, they indeed do create a very cool effect. On the other hand, the fog makes it hard for me to breathe, and when walking down the hallways of Purnell, I often wonder if something in the theatres is on fire from the massive amounts of smoke coming out of the doors. I think that the School of Drama could take a little hint from this article and occasionally realize that sometimes less is more when it comes to fog machines. Whenever I see smoke, I don’t think fire anymore: I think fog machines. This could potentially be dangerous if there ever is a real fire. I’m unsure of how many fire alarms exist in Purnell and so I do not know if this is an actual problem, but if there is an actual fire and people think it is a fog machine, there could be serious problems that occur.
I’m all for fog and haze and theatrical effects of the like, but from the picture, I can’t really blame a passerby for confusing it with a fire and reporting it. After all, how could you? It’s just a good smarten trying to prevent a fire. I think that it’s good that the fire department are now aware of the situation, that way they don’t have to waste time on responding to the same false alarm every time it’s called in, but I definitely agree that the effect should be modified so that it looks a lot less like theres a fire starting up in the middle of the trees. Even moving the source would help, if a passerby noticed fog coming from around the perimeter of the exhibit with clearly no flame or ignition, it would look less like a fire, but because the source is concealed by trees and the plume is so dense, it looks a lot like fire. I’m honestly quite surprised the creators didn’t notice it in the first place. It's one thing when you're in a building, smoke and fog/haze look and smell a lot different when you're close, but outside those distinguishing factors are a lot less noticeable.
This does bring some safety concerns to mind…but while fog machines can be mistaken for real smoke, I don’t think that they present a real safety issue as long as people are notified that smoke machines are in use. If her art exhibit had a sign or notice displaying that it was a fog machine, and not a real fire, then that would be a good way to keep passerby from calling in a fire. In theatrical practice smoke and haze can be an artistic touch, if used with care. I don’t think anyone seeing The Wiz, for example, is going to believe there is a fire onstage—notices are posted all over reminding the audience that haze is used in the show so it should be no surprise that is shows up. However, it’s a good thing that the public are taking notice and calling it in…but the fire department should be made aware ahead of time that it is just a fog machine and not a blaze.
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