Fire Safety Curtains and other proscenium opening protectives have been a topic for stage design for centuries (literally). In 1992, ASTC got involved in the process of revising the building codes, resulting in significant changes to requirements for stages. Bill Conner, FASTC led that project. Here he tells the story.

The practice and later code requirements to provide stand pipes and with hoses on stages is very old. They seemed to have originated from the factory fire brigade concept, where employees of the company were expected to respond first and fight fire. Despite some assertions to the contrary, they are for occupant fire fighting, and never have been intended for use by the fire service. The time to retire this code requirement is well past, and thankfully the NFPA’s 2018 Life Safety Code (101) will no longer require standpipes on stages. The substantiation for the change, initiated by the committee and not from a public comment stated, ”The variation in equipment and resources is different such that the AHJ should have freedom to make the call on hose requirements. If needed, they should be installed based on NFPA 13". The discussion was, by my recollection, much broader. Read More...