Theatre Catalog (1947-48)

of the fire that occurred on March 30, 1947, at about 11.20 p.m. in the gallery of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. Before the firemen arrived, flames had taken a good hold and the front of the house became a total loss. However, the safety curtain and sprinklers saved the stage and the property behind it. “The members of the theatrical company, which had finished its performance before the fire broke out, saved all its costumes and stage properties. This is the fifth occasion on which fire has Members of the staff and company who had removed costumes and scenery to a nearby church hall were able to return the following morning, for the sprinklers had saved the stage, the office, and the dressing-room accommodation behind it. Not only did the sprinklers save the back-stage portion of the theatre itself, but inhabitants of the tenements built on the rear portion of the building were spared the inconvenience, as well as the danger, of what might have been a devastating fire in a congested part of the city. . “There were two ‘safety curtains’ in the Edinburgh Theatre Royal: a statutory curtain, such as we have all seen, was one; the other, automatic sprinklers, not displayed by us by legal obligation, but always there, and always ready, and independent of human frailty. The Royal was the only theatre in Edinburgh equipped with sprinklers and reports from the management are enthusiastic about their efficient working on this occasion. Horace Collins, managing director of the theatre, paying tribute to the efficiency of the system says, ‘Sprinklers worked excellently and saved considerable loss a4 WorcESTER MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, Worcester, Massachusetts, is more than three-quarters to valuable property. I do not think they protected with automatic sprinklers. The sprinkler system covers over and under the gridiron, the are used as much as they should be in entire pasanant back stage, the organ loft, all of the hallways, under the balcony, and as may be theatre construction’.” seen from the upper picture, in the proscenium arch. (All photos through courtesy of NAS&FCA.) CONCLUSION We do not want another Iroquois Theatre fire to happen again in this country. This means to avert such dis= astrous fires and to insure continuity of 4 ae ee operation is available through installa: tion of a properly supervivsed and main=: ; 1 ee ee ‘ tained automatic sprinkler system. The 1 ee | | ea ut | i i j vs 8 4 et \ | 1 = x cost of such an installation can be obthis added fire protection with a mini— \\ FITETE ; TIVITT..' = tained from any member of the National mum of capital investment. The reduc* ea aas 1111-6 ie! i i 7 | ( | { Lt b BN { “(5 ; : ' damaged the theatre to such an extent Ba as to necessitate rebuilding. ‘ “From the foregoing it will be seen ‘ i? that the protective effect of automatic EAGt sprinklers could not be better displayed Sarg ¢ by a rehearsed demonstration. It is easy Bt i oe j to imagine the hold the fire at*the front ig eS f Fab G OT EN of the house must have had to destroy Vis ay, a4 yes de. that part so completely; and yet, where Neo, yy: “ag Gio a the sprinklers were installed, they came tha\tre” a4 CR BR ot NOT into operation and halted the fire RSS fy pat BY Gee SARE abruptly. Thus we find in one area all the Che GF 4 OREN fork the fierceness of a major conflagration i a By og. my x4 i ; and in another, not more than a few fies eal vara 4 1 feet distant, an absence of fire damage. ae ay Hah re Automatic Sprinkler and Fire Control Association. Your theatre can possess tion in your insurance cost will pay for the equipment in five to ten years. The efficiency of automatic sprinklers : = over a period of 70 years has proved its, : — = ; ns value in all types of buildings and oc2 —_" cupancies. They are the unseen “automatic firemen” that are continuously on, guard for instant action when a axel occurs. % | | = St 5 1947-48 THEATRE CATALOG