To Prevent and Extinguish Fires in Theatres.*

To Prevent and Extinguish Fires in Theatres.*

The practical view of the question of fires in theatres I have always considered to be, “How to render existing structures safe;" and I have endeavored to keep to this side of the question, apart from the theoretical one of how to construct, regardless of cost, a building wherein, by the use of every known modern improvement and appliance, the maximum amount of security could be attained. Before the doors of a theatre are permitted to be opened to the public, I should consider the structural questions as at an end. That is to say, that no theatre or public building should be licensed for use until the structure complies with what may be taken as the accepted conditions of safety. The main leading point is the exits. The time within which an audience should be able to get clear of a building may be estimated at two minutes. Beyond this time it may be taken that human life would be in jeopardy. In even what may be called fireproof theatres, there is within the walls a sufficient quantity of combustible materials, scenery, etc., which on ignition would create sufficient smoke to imperil life after the lapse of a period exceeding two minutes. Consequently, unless the building can be cleared before the smoke gets sufficiently dense, for all practical purposes it is a deathtrap.

The seats in the auditorium should be fixed, every seat allowing at least two and a half square feet of room for the occupant, and be arranged as, while tending to prevent a "block," to allow a free passage to the exit door. All staircases should be constiuctcd with a hand-rail on each side; and where any turn of a passage may lead anyone to doubt the direct way out, the word “exit," with a hand pointing in that direction, should appear prominently. All exit doors should be distinctly labeled “exit," and every such door should be opened nightly for egress. A plan of the theatre, with exits conspicuously marked, should be printed on every programme. All exit gangways should be clear of obstruction, and, where possible, carpet curtains should take the place of doors of heavy construction. Every separate part of the building, such as pit, dress circle, gallery, etc., should have a separate and direct exit, no other exit leading into it at any junction whatever.