[SML] Fire hoses was Re: Cell phone lasers

[Bill Conner]

On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 8:08 AM, Dougherty, Jim via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> .....and the fuel loads in modern buildings are higher than in the past due to the materials in use.......

Your points are valid but as it concerns stages in particular, I
believe that there are less or much less combustible materials than
100+ years ago when these requirements were first developed.  Consider
the inventory of combustibles on the Iroquois stage as recorded at the
time by John R. Freeman, PE:

"On the Iroquois stage at the time of the fire there was more than ten
thousand square yards of canvas, or two and one-half acres, and in
addition about three thousand square yards, or half an acre, of gauze.
To hang this required nearly eleven miles in length of f-inch manila
rope, and in the frames, battens, braces, profiles and set pieces, the
stage carpenter of the Iroquois tells me, after making careful
estimate, that there was about eight thousand square feet of white
pine lumber. The total weight of this fuel was more than ten tons, all
dry as tinder, and all set or hung in a way to give the quickest
possible exposure and spread to the flames."

Somewhere its noted the lifting lines were soaked in kerosene to
prevent them from rotting, 150+ linesets, and not to mention oil paint
on the canvas.

(And, not that it matters, I believe the requirements in IBC and LSC
both require a "misting" nozzle, or so the fire service reps on the
committee stated IIRC.)


-- 
Bill Conner Fellow of the ASTC