[SML] Ratio of exit doors to audience?

[Dale Farmer]

It's a local building code situation.  Building code books usually are 
hiding behind paywalls online so can't really help you there.    Reach 
out to the venue TD and local fire inspector with some strawman 
proposals to look at and see what they say.   If the door is blocked by 
scenery, then it is lost for fire escape calculations.   Doors blocked 
by pipe and drape are still viable, but figure on hanging some 
additional exit signs in front of the pipe and drape so the public can 
see them at need.
    Fire escape calculations are complicated, Maximum occupancy, number 
and width of doors, length of hallways behind those doors, bends and 
stairs on the route to an exterior doorway all enter into it.  If you 
fall into the rathole of having to do that, and are anywhere close to 
the edge of the envelope, you are gonna attract much more attention from 
the inspector in all the other aspects of the gig.

Dale




On 3/5/2024 2:22 PM, Stephen Lee via Stagecraft wrote:
> I seem to remember reading about the calculations for determining how 
> many useable emergency exit doors are required for a space, based upon 
> how many people will be in the room. The situation I'm envisioning would 
> be for a corporate gig in a hotel/convention center ballroom where some 
> of the doors around the perimeter (backstage, for example) would be 
> blocked by scenery or pipe & drape for an event, but the room would not 
> be fully populated with seats, either.
> 
> Unfortunately my brain and Google-fu are both failing me at the moment. 
> Does anyone know the rule-of-thumb for this?
> 
> Stephen
> 
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