Fire at Tradeshows and Indoor Venues
By Kalyn Burke, CEO, Triskele Events, LLC
Indoor venues designed for business events like convention and expo centers or meeting facilities are used to host standard conferences and tradeshows. As someone who works with a tradeshow that deals with hot melt items, specifically metal, myself and my team get to be some of the event producers that spring the “fire and high heat” discussion with these venues. After the initial shock from the facility management, usually there is a clarification request from the venue representatives based on our RFP (Request For Proposal). Turning these requests into a delicate dance with high levels of communication across multiple parties. Since tradeshows are designed to show off the best-of-the-best in a given industry, how do event professionals handle that when the industry involves high heat?
Pertinent communication starts with questions and clarification. The first major question is: Can this even happen? Does the venue even allow high heat, sparks, or hot melt technologies in the space we have leased? If the venue does not allow this, then that’s it, the hard stop and quick answer. If it’s a “case-by-case” basis, then we get to work and begin having important conversations to determine the viability of the opportunity.
When it comes to tradeshows, vendors/exhibitors often ask for the opportunity to have heat or flame at their booth at the last minute. While we producers love to make our exhibiting vendors happy, this is something that simply can’t be done at the last minute and needs to be handled with the utmost care and precision. For this reason, it’s important to set specific, hard deadlines for exhibitors regarding anything with sparks, flames, or high heat.
Heat or flame events can range from simple to complex: A vendor could have something as small as a cutting tool, which regularly creates sparks. Even something as small as this requires a well thought out plan. Consider carpeting, aerial protection (depending on how high the sparks are anticipated to go), and ensuring a heat protection radius by retaining a perimeter. For a situation like the cutting tool it’s usually easy to address: By ensuring any flooring (including carpeting) is fire resistant and the designated perimeter is set up. Show decorators get involved at this step and ensure the proper items are taken into account.
When flammable materials, high-heat items, and other similar products enter the mix, there are further steps we need to look into given various risk factors like a radius of the potential sparks, potential flammable gas spread, flammable material, or other high-heat items. This is where PPE comes into high importance. Because of the sensitivity of high-heat materials, especially smelting materials, PPE is required. Proper PPE must be made available by the company bringing in said materials. From the clothing to the pipe and drape used along with any booth items in a designated radius of the flame. Ensuring everything meets or exceeds the fire marshall, venue, and often the heat/flame producing product supplier mandated standards.
When it comes to the bigger situations with welders, open flames, extreme high heat, or anything dealing with hot melt technology, things get a lot more complicated. Thankfully, since most convention and large-scale indoor event centers are made of metal, they are used to welders being brought in to fix the facility. That still means the conversations amongst all involved parties are incredibly important and need to be taking place as early as possible, it just means they have a history of something similar taking place within the space. The key items to cover in these conversations are timelines, flammable materials/tools, how and where they will be stored when not in use, how the tools and products will be brought to and from the facility, and many more. Each of these items becomes one aspect of a carefully constructed plan to allow this risky event to take place. At every step of the way, we communicate where each aspect will fall into the master plan while also being mindful that the plan may not be enough to allow this risk event to happen. We need to be prepared to scrap the entire plan if anything changes.
One item regularly discussed is a Fire Watch. Most facilities that allow high heat/flame in their structures will require a Fire Watch before, during, and after the high-risk situation. A Fire Watch is typically an independently hired and trained individual who can effectively respond to a flame or any heat event if it were to get out of hand. This person typically has a direct line to local emergency response personnel and ensures they are aware of the situation and the time frames when the fire risk will be taking place. The Fire Watch is another way to ensure that first responders will be aware and ready to respond should the sudden need arise. Even if the facility doesn’t require a Fire Watch, I usually recommend one whenever a flame is present.
Venues can have so many reasons for denying these requests and not allowing flame or high-heat items in their facilities. As producers, we are only aware of things that directly pertain to the space we lease. This forces us to ask lots of questions to the property managers and interested parties. They know what can affect our availability to do anything with flame. From flooring material and coatings, locations of internal gas and water lines, other events taking place within the facility, other happenings going on regionally to the building, and much more. These all factor into the possibility of having high heat or flame in the facility.
Like most things with safety, communication really is the key. Keeping all lines of communication open and honest across all parties is the only way we can have a heat event even be considered.
About Kalyn Burke, CEO, Triskele Events, LLC
Kalyn is a seasoned events professional with experience managing everything from V-VIP board meetings, to international film festivals, to industry leading tradeshows, and more. She brings a passion for safety to every project she works on, and an excitement to take on new and exciting projects. She lives by the phrase: the best way to learn and grow is to challenge yourself.