Smoke and smoke detectors in public buildings.

[mixedgas]

I've done the "RENT THE MARSHAL" route. It works well. I'm weary of covering a detector, directly defeating the device would open you to potentially crazy levels of liability in the US. It would be much better to station a dedicated watch person and turn off the zone.

I also agree about photoelectric tripping much easier then the ionization models.

Steve

[depo]

Steviobee a few years ago after they had that nursing home fire in Sydney. We had the licencing police go around to all the clubs, pubs and hotels they told the managers that if they walked into the club and saw an isolated area on the fire panel that they would shut the club down and evacuate the patrons. This was a major pain it the arse for a good few months. Its all died down now and we isolate the shit out of any place we are doing shows in.

We isolate zones and turn off entire panels all the time in construction because we have to its the norm and everyone onsite should be inducted and informed of the emergency evacuation plan.

[colouredmirrorball]

Cheers guys, I have done a lot of construction work where we have covered the detector with various methods, the rubber latex glove and the orange cover but we had to go down the proper route this time.

The fire department apparently charge $10 000 for a false alarm! There is no way we wanted to be responsible for setting it off in this building. Luckily we had a meeting and the guys asked security who changed their mind and agreed to isolate the zone we are to work in, the key I think was asking if we could use a light haze and not mentioning smoke, maybe that word alone conjures up images of a dense smoke that would also cause issues for any evacuation and added confusion if any emergency did occur.

Wait, so a drunk breaking the glass at the right time and then disappearing would cost the venue $10 000?

[daction]

Here in nz from what I gather you are allowed a couple of call outs a year.

[steviobee]

Wait, so a drunk breaking the glass at the right time and then disappearing would cost the venue $10 000?

Not so sure about that, but if we got caught using a hazer/smoke without the correct procedure that sets an alarm off thats a different story! I'm sure some places get a few 'grace' calls a year too?

[daction]

I just had a look at another type of detection system today. It samples the room air . It pumps it back to a central control unit. Pretty fancy.

[buffo]

For what it's worth, we've set off the fire alarm at the SELEM venue more times than I can count. This, despite the fact that we do everything we can to disable the system before we start.

Newton's firefighters have been to the venue at least 4 times that I can remember, and each time they show up in full bunker gear with a thermal imaging camera and will not leave until they walk through the venue to verify it's OK, even after we explain what is going on.

One year the fire department actually responded TWICE in the same day. Fortunately, they didn't charge the venue a nuisance fee, but they surely could have. About the only good thing about it was that it was the one time that it wasn't our fault. We had agreed that the venue would call the alarm company ahead of time to notify them that we would be testing the system, and to not call the firemen. They (the venue staff) forgot to make the call to the alarm company. (oops)

Then, later in the same day, a resident noticed the fire strobes going off in the school (the school is adjacent to the auditorium, and they had been having problems all day with their alarm system and decided to just leave it in alarm mode with the horn silenced), so the concerned resident called in the alarm to the fire department directly. The fire chief wasn't too happy to learn it was another false alarm, but at least it wasn't our fault!

But yeah, it doesn't take much to set off modern smoke detectors. In smaller venues I've used the shower cap trick, but at SELEM there are far too many detectors for that to work. (Besides, some of those detectors at SELEM are 40 ft off the floor!)

One trick that does work really well is to unplug the phone line from the alarm panel. Sure, the building alarm still goes off, but that's not as bad as having the fire department show up.

Bottom line: always discuss the use of fog or haze with your client during your site visit, and make sure they understand that unless they do something with their system, you WILL trigger a fire alarm.

Adam

[Infinity6]

Wow, twice in one day? What fun!

[buffo]

Wow, twice in one day? What fun!

Yeah, fortunately the guys were really cool about it. And they did stick around for a minute or two just to see the lasers. But they had to get back to the station.

I'm just really glad they didn't issue a nuisance fine. Even though it wasn't our fault, it would have made the venue look bad, and that was back when the new director had just taken over. The last thing she needed was bad press!

Adam