Imagine you’re watching the Super Bowl on TV and enjoying some delicious cheesy nachos. There are only a few seconds left in the game and your team is about to take the lead and score the game winning touchdown. Then suddenly the fire alarm goes off at the stadium causing the player to drop the ball in the end zone and you to drop the plate of cheesy nachos. The game stops and everyone evacuates the stadium only to find out it was just a false alarm. How mad would you be as a viewer, event attendee, player, bookie, broadcasting network, or advertiser? Before you get yourself too distraught about your team losing the game and dropping nachos everywhere due to a false alarm, this scenario is highly unlikely to take place. But why doesn’t this happen at special events since false fire alarms are fairly common?
Life safety is a major concern at any special event. Facilities that hold events probably have more safety precautions than most buildings. But if a fire alarm goes off, facility management personnel must be sure there’s a real problem. Forcing 60,000+ people to evacuate the area due to a false alarm would pose a threat to people’s safety as everyone rushes to the exits, the venue to lose money, and disrupt the network’s schedule that’s broadcasting the event etc. The following is one common way a facility may try to avoid false alarms.
Monitoring False Alarms During an Event
During the event, one person monitors the fire alarm panel or control center and looks for alarms. Once there’s an alarm, the person identifies the location and notifies the team that’s on call to investigate the situation. If it’s a false fire alarm the system is set back to normal. In the case of a fire, the facility will follow their emergency protocol plan. Depending on the facility the person monitoring the system may activate the fire alarm signal or initiate a recording. This recording gives people directions on what they need to do.
If you should ever find yourself at a special event where the fire alarm goes off, recognize that it’s most likely not a false alarm. Remain calm and get to an exit or follow the facility’s emergency protocol.
Categorized in: Education, Fire Alarms, General