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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Movie theatre fined for locked emergency doors
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Frank Cox
Film God
Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 08-23-2013 11:55 AM
Movie theatre fined for locked emergency doors
quote:
Saskatoon's fire marshal slapped Galaxy Cinema with a $250 fine for not having its emergency doors connected to the fire system, preventing people from exiting the theatre after a bear spray attack.
Dozens of people who were watching the comedy We're The Millers were trapped in the dark room Tuesday night after bear repellant was released in the theatre.
People tried to push on the bars of the fire exit doors, but they remained locked. About 150 people were forced out in total, but no one was seriously injured.
"There is lots of documented cases in North America where occupants of a building have been trapped and prevented from egressing from the building because of this kind of an incident," said Wayne Rodgers, Saskatoon's fire marshal.
Rodgers has issued the theatre a $250 ticket and has ordered the theatre to re-evaluate and update their fire emergency plan so all their staff know what to do in case something like this happens again.
"We have also instructed them, in the meantime, to either disconnect the maglocks that are on those doors," said Wayne Rodgers, Saskatoon's fire marshal. "Or at all times when that theatre is occupied that there will be security personnel at those doors, in the event of an emergency, so that they can activate the fire alarm system," he said.
Seven people were treated at the scene by fire crews, who used decontamination gear.
Police said video surveillance from inside the theatre links a woman and two men to the bear spray attack. They are asking anyone with information about the suspect to contact them.
Locked fire exit doors sounds life-threatening to me. I'm surprised the fine was only $250.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 08-24-2013 03:34 AM
quote: Justin Hamaker
You're probably thinking of The Station nightclub fire where Great White was performing. 100 people died and 200+ were injured.
The Station Night Club Fire
No, I found it. It was this one in Brazil:
web page
The cause was a combination of plastic insulation foam in the ceiling and pyrotechnics used on stage, a combination which had caused other serious fires around the world previously. Even without the pyrotechnics the use of this foam should never have been allowed in this situation.
The Summerland fire involved Oroglas, an acrylic sheeting, and a material which consisted if steel sheet coated with asbestos and bitumen. Lessons about the use of flammable materials in large public buildings are not being learned, at least in some parts of the world.
Another one which I remember seeing on the news was in a gay club in Soho, London, close to a fire station, but the fire brigade were delayed reaching it by the narrow streets being blocked by vehicles. If I remember correctly, this one also involved inappropriate materials in the structure of the building, and an excessive number of people inside.
Two large buildings in London each suffered two large fires. In North London the Alexandra Palace opened in 1873, and totally destroyed by fire just a couple of weeks later. It was rebuilt, but in 1980, still open but rather run down, and in need of major refurbishment it was again struck by fire, with just about everything except the outer walls lost. A long-disused theatre and the old television studios did survive. It was again rebuilt within the existing walls.
It's counterpart in South London, the Crystal Palace, was originally built in 1851 for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. After the exhibition closed it was dismantled, and re-erected in an enlarged form on a hill at Sydenham, opening in 1854. By the 1860s the North wing had blown down in a storm, and the North end of the main building, including the North transept, had been destroyed in a fire. Neither was re-built; a television transmission tower stands roughly on the site today.
In 1936 the whole of the main building was destroyed by fire, except for two towers which were demolished soon afterwards. The concrete bases of these towers, and a few other traces, remain to this day. Fortunately, the building was not open at the time, and there were only a few people inside. The building was constructed of cast iron and glass, but contained a great deal of wood, mainly in the floors.
My mother managed to set fire to the kitchen twice. The first time the smoke from just a small area of polystyrene foam tiles was incredible; I couldn't see even a foot in front of my face, and I don't think it would have taken much of it to kill. Incredibly, she insisted on putting back similar tiles, with the same effect in the second fire.
Fire is something to be taken seriously, and I agree with Randy that the building should have been closed until the exits were in proper order.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-24-2013 12:19 PM
quote: Stephen Furley
In 1936 the whole of the main building was destroyed by fire, except for two towers which were demolished soon afterwards. The concrete bases of these towers, and a few other traces, remain to this day. Fortunately, the building was not open at the time, and there were only a few people inside. The building was constructed of cast iron and glass, but contained a great deal of wood, mainly in the floors.
Geeky fact alert: that fire was also the subject of the first live outside broadcast in Britain. The preamp output from an OB truck (which at the time was only capable of recording onto disc cutting lathes on location, not actual broadcasting) was patched into a phone line on a spur-of-the-moment "Let's see if this'll work" decision, and the rest was history.
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Alan Plester
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 209
From: great yarmouth england
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 08-24-2013 12:45 PM
I remember, years ago, watching a dire experience in a cinema in Coventry, which has now closed, when, during the interval, one of the usherettes removed the chains from the exit doors, we had been on the premises over 90 mins, I left, and voiced concern to the manager, never went to that flea pit again, lousy ,lousy show, and felt rather uneasy in the circumstances
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