THE THEATRE FIRE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 435, 18 February 1909, Page 5

THE THEATRE FIRE.

ACAPULCO DISASTER. KINEMATOCRAPH FILM OATCHEB FIRE • A TERRIBLE PANIC. (BT TZLEOnAJH—rEESS ASSOCIATION—COPTEIOni.) Moxlco, February 16. Details of the fire at Acapulco show that it : occurred while. a . gala performance was being'given in honour of the Governor. It was. caused by a kinematograph film catching fire. , ' The audience, numbering a thousand ; persons, included the oldest and wealthiest, families of the district. / ": The building, a .wooden structure,. was provided only with three exits, and when the alarm was- given a terrible panic ensued. Many ■of the victims were incinerated. They included a number of Germans. IA WORD ON THEATRE CONSTRUCTION. I Mr. John Fuller, junr., who recently made a tour of the world and paid particular attention, to the fittings of the Continental, English, and American theatres, informed a representative' of The Dominion, last night .that , such a calamity as reported from Mexico could r not ocour.in any of tho English or colonial theatres on the difference in the architecture of the buildings.- It is almost the invariable practice in the, American theatres, accprding to Mr.' Puller, to have the entrants to various parts of the house through the one vestibule of from 18ft. to 20ft. on the street front, this' being on account of the land being so valuable. Thus, in the event Of a panic, the audience had to make their way out through the one vestibule, as was the case in the great Iroquois Theatre fire, one of the most modern of the American theatres. Since that fire an order has been issued by the authorities, that exits from the ! sides of the ' theatres must be provided, the result being that in a recent, big theatre fire in New York not a life was lost, simply owing to the additional side exits. "Figures talk," said Mr. Fuller, adding that in British and colonial theatres only 387 persons had been killed in 100 years, whilst in one American theatre alone 587: persons lost their-lives. It was the general . practice in New : Zealand theatres to have two side entrances; and three wliere practicable. The Mexican theatres had not come . into line ' with the . new American rule,. hence the' disaster. In conclusion; Mr. Fuller stated thjit in the whole of the theatres where, the. kinematograph .was;, being ' run the maohines. were enclosed in ironproof coverings so that fire in case of accidents to the maohines was not.likely to happen. ■}, ' .