[SML] Fire hoses

[dale]

Nowadays, I'd strongly suggest retrofitting your theater space with one of those high pressure water mist fire fighting systems. They are catching on in Europe and in the shipboard communities fast.  
 They are amazingly effective at extinguishing fires of all types, with comparatively little water compared to conventional sprinkler systems.  So cleanup after the fire is done with rags and buckets, not pumps and wetvacs.  
The documentry that carnival cruiselines made about them comparing two engine room fires they had, one with the misting system, one with previous methods of fire fighting convinced me.  
Dale


Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Stephen Rees via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> 
Date: 8/29/16  19:48  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Stagecraft Mailing List <stagecraft at theatrical.net> 
Cc: Stephen Rees <Stephen.Rees at fredonia.edu> 
Subject: Re: [SML] Fire hoses 

I'd also suggest that in order for many/most of those cabinet hoses, connection by the local FD to the standpipe they are attached to first has to be made. In my albeit limited experience, those lines were dry with no water present at the cabinet valve.  That rather limited the usefulness of the hose, I should think.
Steve


Stephen E. ReesRAC Addition Project ShepherdState University of New York at Fredonia716.673.3208 Office716.680.1565 Mobile


On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 3:06 PM, Lawrence E. Stahl via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:






Unless I am mistaken (a fairly common occurrence, by the way), the wall-mounted fire hoses in larger theatres are one of several remnants of very sensible upgrades in fire protection from back in the day when a 45-minute response time for
 the first water to be put on a fire by the closest fire company was considered reasonable... hitching up the horses, getting the boiler going, getting a water draft set up, and so on.   Today, I think most Fire Departments would be much more interested in
 having access to the water hookups in those locations than in the hoses themselves.   And yes, untrained building occupants using a hose--whether it is in good shape or not--could very easily be worse than doing nothing if an unprepared or understrength person
 gets knocked on their ass and injured by the water pressure straightening out the hose... think of your garden hose as Bruce Banner and a fire hose as The Incredible Hulk.   There is a reason two trained firefighters are usually on the business end of a hose
 in action.   When I train my student workers about them, I usually summarize by saying that if they wait until a situation is so bad they need to use the hoses, they better die in the fire or I will kill them worse than that later on.   Fire extinguishers
 for rookies, fire hoses for the professionals (and, yes, that term absolutely includes the well-trained volunteers in most towns like our local company, who have to meet pretty much every standard that paid firefighters do.)
Speaking of fire extinguishers, my students are taught that only small and completely visible fires (e.g. trash can) are candidates for fire extinguishers.   Check the locations of your fire extinguishers.   They should be located near
 exits (really large buildings may have others in key locations in addition to the exits.)   The idea is simple:  you run to get the fire extinguisher, and when you run back to put out the trash can fire you are guaranteed to have a fire exit available behind
 you in case the fire gets out of hand.   Do not run past the fire deeper into the building to get a fire can.  And if the fire is small but not completely visible, such as coming from a wall outlet, ceiling panel, or anything like that, there is no way to
 know how far it extends inside that wall, ceiling, or floor--and in that case you have neither the time nor the training to investigate.  If that is what you see, pull the nearest alarm and get everyone out, including yourself, right then and there, no foolin',
 then call 911.   If like me you would be reporting a working fire in a major college structure, you will be meeting many, many firefighters beginning about 5 minutes from the time you connect with 911.   Get your folks out of the building and away from the
 building, and let the people who know what they are doing go in and do what they know.
Well, I guess this thread pushed my button a little more than I realized.  I think I have "Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder" from worrying about stuff like this in my building before it happens.
 Larry Stahl

Technical Director
Gibson Center for the Arts
Washington College
Chestertown, MD 21620







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