Fire In Cinemas

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 863, 6 January 1930, Page 8

Fire In Cinemas

PANIC IS NOW NEEDLESS NEW YEAR’S EVE became a night of horror in the Scottish town of Paisley when a panic in a cinema caused the death of 70 children. The acrid smoke of burning film caused a maddened rush for safety, in which the victims destroyed themselves. It is impossible to legislate for panic, but its causes can be minimised, if not entirely removed. New Zealand cinemas are controlled by regulations which provide a generous margin of safety.

Auckland motion picture exhibitors who have had experience overseas declare unhesitatingly that the authorities in Great Britain have erred in compromising with existing conditions. Lax regulations have allowed, particularly in small centres, the use of old and unsuitable halls which are not equipped with proper fire prevention apparatus. Obviously the Glen cinema, scene of the Paisley tragedy, was one of these, for the lighting medium was gas, while the box-office charge of three halfpence in the case of at least one child is pathetically significant. Great Britain has had her second disastrous lesson within recent memory. The first was in Ireland, where tragedy followed the showing of films in a barn. There has not been a single case of death by fire or panic in a New Zealand picture theatre. “In the main this undoubtedly is due to the excellence of the construction and precautionary methods used in the Dominion,” claims a prominent Auckland film exhibitor. “In theatre construction we have profited from the experiences of older countries, and there are no more modern cinemas in the world than ours. “At the same time this has not always been so and many accidents in the early days of motion pictures were averted by the presence of mind of the people themselves. “Years ago in His Majesty’s Theatre when the film operating box stood in the centre of the circle I remember a fire that burned about 40 adjacent seats before it was extinguished. Many members of the audience actually did not leave the theatre while the blaze was being extinguished. They kept perfectly calm; consequently there was no trouble.” But audiences cannot always be relied upon to remain perfectly calm in alarming circumstances. Panic is infectious and sweeps through a crowd with terrible rapidity, leaving blind unreason in its wake. Yet if the causes of panic be removed by the widespread knowledge of fire’s limitations in a modern theatre the danger of tragedy is practically nonexistant. Auckland’s picture theatres, in

common with those in other New Zealand centres are subject to Government regulations administered by the authorities which control the use of explosives. An inspector visits every theatre and sees to it that the necessary devices and constructional features are present. Three separate lines of defence guard New Zealand cinema audiences from the film which entertains, yet may threaten them. First the projection machines are fire-tight. If a film catches fire as it is moving through the machine, the apparatus automatically lochs and seal 3 itself. One or, at most, two pictures constituting about four square inches of celluloid will burn. The rest is sealed and safe. Secondly, the fire-proof operating box containing the projection machine may be completely sealed at a moment’s notice. If a film removed from the projector catches fire, this is done, and the blaze is allowed to burn itself out. The majority of modern operating boxes are built on the outside of the theatre walls. All are equipped with special flues which, in time of fire, would carry away smoke and gases through a wide aperture above each machine. In addition the apertures in the front of the boxes through which the pictures are projected are fitted with heavy steel slides held in place by strips of “film fuse.” These are pieces of ordinary film stretched taut above each machine. In the event of fire they would burn readily and allow the slides to drop. Finally the theatre buildings themselves are fireproof. Modern concrete and brick construction offers no encouragement to flames, and modern lighting methods possess a high factor of safety. All this the New Zealand authorities and picture exhibitors have done, while producers are helping by offering increasing quantities of uninflammable film. Paisley’s awful experience actually should serve to emphasise the safety of the modern, properly-con-ducted cinema. E.H.S.M.