Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Fire procedure

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Topic: Fire procedure

Thomas Pitt
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: May 2007

posted 03-13-2015 04:15 PM

I saw "Chappie" a few days ago, and about 3/4 of the way through the movie it suddenly cut off. Then there was an announcement saying they were evacuating the theater. As I left the auditorium, the manager was running down the corridor calling "false alarm" and we were able to go back in.

Apparently, they had to let the projector cool down for 10 minutes before starting it up again. But when the movie came back on, it was exactly where it had left off. Lights went down, projector came on, and BOOM - right in the middle of the battle sequence where it had stopped! Gave me a bit of a shock; I was expecting it to start at the beginning then rapidly fast forward to the approximate point it had stopped. Since we did get to see the remaining portion of the movie, I didn't ask for a refund or free pass.

How are fire drills handled in your theatres? And if it's a false alarm, do you resume the movie where it left off or just issue a free pass for another showing?

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Andrew Thomas
Master Film Handler

Posts: 273
From: Pearland, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted 03-13-2015 07:45 PM

Our projectors are all connected via a Jnior to the fire alarm system, and will pause at the moment of the alarm.

Only had it happen once when I accidentally left the kettle on and burned up some little bits of corn. I still gave passes to everybody even though we got the movie rolling again. I would probably do it even if it weren't my fault, like a situation where a punk kid pulls the alarm or similar.

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Terry Monohan
Master Film Handler

Posts: 379
From: San Francisco CA USA
Registered: May 2014

posted 03-31-2015 05:40 PM

A few weeks ago I along with many friends took in a movie in a long closed old movie theatre in SF. As I looked around the old place early I walked out one of the exit doors down front leading out to the enclosed side of this cement theatre building I noticed all kinds of clutter boards ect laying in the small pathway to get back out to the front of the street were the only two true exits were located. Both exits were chained locked and boards locking them from the inside. I wonder If the local fire dept ever checks theatres now a days to see about these type of problems? If you are ever in a old movie theatre always check the exits that they can lead you to outdoor safety and are not blocked or locked. Lots of times these old cinemas chained locked all the doors from the inside to prevent break ins, but they forget to unlock them when the cinema is open.

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Frank Cox
Film God

Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 03-31-2015 10:18 PM

I don't know about anywhere else, but the local fire chief here buzzes through once in a while to make sure that everything meets his approval. And an inspector from the outfit that I buy my insurance from does the same thing occasionally, too.

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