On the Safeguarding of Life in Theaters

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Excerpt from On the Safeguarding of Life in Theaters: Being a Study From the Standpoint of an Engineer The results which are set forth at length in these hundred pages may be briefly summed up as follows: 1. It is not a difficult or an expensive matter to provide safeguards such that a theater or other hall of public assembly may be made reasonably safe. 2. In the great theater fires of history the loss of life has commonly resulted from the rapid spread of flame on a stage covered with scenery, followed within two or three minutes by an outpouring of suffocating smoke through the proscenium arch into the top of the auditorium, before those in the galleries could escape. Death has come chiefly to those in the balconies, and often within less than five minutes of the first flame. The three great safeguards are found to be, 1. The providing of ample, automatic, quick-opening smoke vents over the stage. 2. The thorough equipment of the stage with automatic sprinklers by means of which the action of the heat will promptly release, over the burning scenery, a rainfall tenfold heavier than the heaviest thundershower, drenching the scenery and extinguishing the flames. 3. The providing of especially ample exits and stairways from the gallery. 4. The foregoing transcend all other requirements. The fire proofing or flame proofing of scenery is found to be of doubtful value under the practical conditions of use. The so-called fireproof paints are of very small fire-retarding value. The asbestos curtain is found to possess much less endurance against heat and flame than had been supposed. The steel curtain covered with non-conductor on the stage side is far better than the asbestos curtain, but may give trouble in lowering or may permit large quantities of suffocating gas to be forced into the auditorium around its edges. 5. Dry-powder fire-extinguishers and hand grenades are likely to prove worse than useless, by promoting waste of valuable time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.