|
|
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3 [Next] | ||||||||||
Sylver Fyre Regular user Michigan 152 Posts |
Bill Palmer, and many others that posted are correct.
Bottom line is follow the laws. If you book a gig and you plan on performing fire call the fire marshall Yourself. Do not rely on the venue. Many places are ignorant to the laws and saftey regulations that are involved with the use of fire (and even some shady places will try to bend laws or lie about contacting the marshall). As a professional fire performer I know this first hand. Be responsible and do the leg work yourself. It will help your reputation with the area's law enforcers of where you perform. Most marshalls are really easy to work with, as long as you communicate that saftey comes first and you are more then willing to cooperate and follow their instructions. They are not the bad guys, they are there to help and ensure the saftey of the public and you. I also find it upsetting that many magician's don't feel the need to follow the same laws that fire performers do. I've seen and used a few fire magic tricks and some of them to me are actually less safe then eating fire or dancing with it. If you are using ANY fire in your show, you are still held liable and are required to follow the laws of your city (whether it falls under light up permit regulations or pyrotechnics) Some cities have bans because of performances gone wrong. The consequences of not following proper saftey procedures is immeasurable. Lives have been lost. So if you are a performer that doesn't respect your own saftey, think about those that are trusting you in the audience. Could you live with yourself if you ended up being responcible for someone elses death? Sylver Fyre
Sylver Fyre
"Do not warm yourself by the fire, become the flame" --------------------------------------------- www.knottybitssideshow.com Add me on Myspace or Facebook! http://www.myspace.com/sylverfyre |
|||||||||
Aidan New user Niceville, FL 27 Posts |
Do you kids get the idea!!! I’m talking to you others too, who are still a kid at heart and should really know better!
There’s A LOT of experience in the above posts and every one of them have truly been fortunate enough to be here today to relate it. I know because I’m one of them! Beginning at a young age myself, my first experiences were with paper roll caps and firecrackers that are now both no longer available in this country! Why? Because they were extremely dangerous! As a kid, Dad even gave us bits of dynamite to “go play with”!!! Why? Because it was extremely dangerous!!! I learned from a young age a GREAT respect for such things. It also aroused a great curiosity that was satisfied with knowledge and experience and ALWAYS with great respect!!! Today, I do use a fluff of cotton or a bit of paper, and it still scares the heck out of me. Yes, I know it’s safer than gasoline, black powder and a lot of other stuff. But my fears are based from my own deep respect for this stuff and those people nearby. Some people are disappointed in my lack of “flash” sometimes, but I don’t bring it out unless I know the necessary measures are in place close at hand. And this includes my use of this stuff outdoors as well!!! Two extinguishers, water, blankets… that’s minimum for me! I like having someone who knows what’s going to happen nearby as well… or should I say someone who knows what might happen! Am I pessimistic? NO! I’m considerate! I too have dabbled with chemistry, dynamics, and even ballistics. Much of which is no longer openly available today, thank goodness. With the lack of considerations so prevalent today, it’s understandable that there is even less respect!!! Not counting my childhood, I still have over 40 years of knowledge and experience that I wouldn’t dare share with ANYONE today. Why? BECAUSE IT’S EXTREAMLY DANGEROUS!!! I KNOW!!! I’VE BEEN THERE!!! I’VE DONE THAT!!! And I too, am one of the fortunate few… more so than some!
Integrity is all that is truly yours, everything else, can be taken from you in an instant!
|
|||||||||
WagsterMagic Special user Myrtle Beach, SC 639 Posts |
I learned the hard way too. I had flash paper and sparkle add. go off in my hand! At the beginning of the show. I had a burn through my whole show. I have learned to be very cautious now.
Best Brandon
The Wagsters: World Class Magic & Illusion
www.wagstermagic.com |
|||||||||
shoostergoogle New user 9 Posts |
Where did all of this come from lol I agree on the topic of fire safety but did something happen to someone to spark this random rant
|
|||||||||
aquamage New user 92 Posts |
I agree with many of the above posters as well. I am a full-time professional magician and fire-eater. I was trained by experts and I have been working with fire and pyrotecnics for over 20 years. I have been burned, singed, scarred and almost blinded. I am very careful, always take precautions, and still things can go wrong. So to those thinking about using any form of fire: sooner or later something will happen. This is not pessimism, or a negative comment on you or your skills. Sooner or later SOMETHING will go wrong. Guaranteed. I am not saying that you should or should'nt use fire. That is your personal choice. But, if you do, learn all you can about it....listen to all the REALLY good advice in this thread....follow ALL local laws...and have good medical and liability insurance.
|
|||||||||
John Iacono New user N. California 53 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-02-21 03:43, Lee Darrow wrote: Not only have a fire extinguisher, have the correct one. Do not use a CO2 base fire extinguisher to try to put out pyrotechnic compounds that contain oxidizers, it will not work. These types of compounds generate their own oxygen. The only way to put out a compound that contains an oxidizer is with water. When eating fire, you would wan to have a CO2 fire extinguisher |
|||||||||
John Iacono New user N. California 53 Posts |
To put thing into perspective regarding the danger of pyrotechnics, I have been a licensed commercial pyrotechnic operator in ca. for over 20 years. One of the pyrotechnicians I know in N. Cal. Shots the fireworks at a local Air Force base on July fourth, the base C.O. sends out the explosive ordinance team to help with the show, this is something the EOD does not like to do, the reason is because pyrotechnics do not require a detonator to function. The EOD team would rather work with high explosives because the do require a detonator in order to function, this make then safer to handle.
Accidents do happen even for the pros. July fourth 1997, I was doing a show for one of the cities on N. Cal. I lit the fuse to a 6 inch mortar shell, the shell detonated in the steel mortar cutting the mortar in half and also cutting the 8’ X 2’ X 2’ box of sand in half. I was sander two feet from the mortar when this occurred, the fuses we use burn 300 feet per second and or only 3 feet long. The fire dept thought I was dead, but I walk out of the smoke without a scratch on me. I have been told I am the only person to walk away from such an accident. On of my helpers was knocked, and she was twenty feet behind be. I was real lucky that day, I walk away unhurt and I was flying to FISM the next morning my helper was back on her feet in just a few minutes. On a side note the heat form the explosion corrected my helpers vision, she no longer needs glasses. |
|||||||||
dave_matkin Inner circle 4522 Posts |
Quote:
On 2007-06-25 21:58, shoostergoogle wrote: if you go back to the FIRST post you will see that it is becuase of people posting in appropriate info on the forum - and I notice that no one has contradcited his ideas (at least openly!) and eveyone pretty much agrees. I guess that means there are just a few otehr peolpe who disagree and are quite happy to post things like "i use weak tea as my fuel for fire eating" and "firs is not at all dangerouse .... in fac I regulary flomaby mself in gasoline whilst dringnking pure rocket fuel". But the "Rant" as you call it was completly appropriate to remind people of the rles of the forum and to try and get people back on track as it were. |
|||||||||
DJBrenton Regular user Midlands, England 129 Posts |
The untrained use of fire really scares me, and indeed many other untrained performances. One time I had to almost physically stop a dancer using lighter fluid for fire breathing. It's what they thought fire breathers used!! Another time an angle grinder (his forst time) in a nightclub ( you use an angle grinder on pieces of metal attached to your body to create sparks) cut his finger off as he was using a cutting blade instead of a grinding blade. All because they were copying what they thought they'd seen me do/use at previous performances and hadn't bothered to ask for training.
|
|||||||||
"Muggs" New user Bridgeport, CT 64 Posts |
I was reading Bills post and all the others in MCF - A Great Matter of Concern. Just wanted to say WELL DONE! It should be repeated over and over because unfortunately most performers don't pay enough attention to this. As a police detective with both arson and post blast explosive training, I am also exposed to the negative side of things when "things go wrong" and a lot of performers, as well as most lay people have no idea how quickly and how bad that things can go wrong when safety concerns aren't put in place and sometimes, unfortunately, even when they are. Lets hope as many performers as possible read this thread and pay attention to the warning. If it were up to me, it would be required reading before being able to enter this and other dangerous topics.
|
|||||||||
ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-09-13 03:03, Bill Palmer wrote: "What does it matter if idots (sic) cause fires?" Ask my wife, she works at RI Hospital and they're still getting patients from the Station night club fire coming by for therapy! (I quoted your entire message so no one might jump to the conclusion that the "idots" quote was actually _from_ you! My wife can also comment on the flash paper comments on this thread. She was doing a Shakespere play, can't remember the title, but the company had made _major_ changes, the director changed Willie's "priest" to a "voo doo priestess!" They decided it would be cool if she could shoot flash paper, so she borrowed my shooter. Dern fool kept it in a pouch she wore along with the entire stock of flash paper!!! Yep, the shooter went off during a production and caught the paper. I don't know why but all that happened was that the bag filled with smoke and the flash paper had to be replaced. God looks out for drunks and fools and my wife don't drink.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
|
|||||||||
Cyberqat Inner circle You can tell I work on the net from my 2209 Posts |
Quote:
On 2005-09-13 03:03, Bill Palmer wrote: Because fires kill more then the idiots who cause them. I lived for 15 years in California where forest fires started by idiots regularly kill people, destroy their homes and everything in them, and generally wreck lives. There are two kinds of fire practitioners. Those who know enough to always be afraid of the genii they are letting out of the bottle, and those destined to be statistics. Your PMer unfortunately sounds like the latter. I just hope s/he doesn't take anyone else with him/her when they meet their destiny. (I also wonder at his/her age because s/he sure doesn't sound like s/he has the emotional maturity yet to handle such potential dangers. ) Fire is a wonderful;, magical thing. Its power entrances people. But its power can also kill people. Never forget that.
It is always darkest just before you are eaten by a grue.
|
|||||||||
Cyberqat Inner circle You can tell I work on the net from my 2209 Posts |
Quote:
On 2008-03-15 10:54, ed rhodes wrote: When I was in highschool I had a palmable electric shooter. (Yeah I know, at that age its questionable, I admit.) I'd carry it loaded in my pocket sometimes. One day I thoughtlessly put it in my pocket with my keys and forgot about it. A few hours later one of the keys bridge the contents on the switch and it went off in my pocket. I was lucky and got away with a hole in my pocket and a blister on my leg. I am now 45 and ALL my combustible props and chemicals live in this when I'm not actively performing: http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/pr......_Id=null
It is always darkest just before you are eaten by a grue.
|
|||||||||
hocuspocusjay23 Regular user 170 Posts |
These are great posts. Even the smallest of fires can get out of hand quick. Even a dove pan these days can teach smaller children that playing with fire is ok. Children copy what they see, and I have taken fire out of my act.
|
|||||||||
hocuspocusjay23 Regular user 170 Posts |
These are great posts. Even the smallest of fires can get out of hand quick. Even a dove pan these days can teach smaller children that playing with fire is ok. Children copy what they see, and I have taken fire out of my act.
|
|||||||||
Donnie Buckley V.I.P. Cleveland, Ohio 1123 Posts |
Flash cotton can ignite in a hot car. A couple of years ago I had a fire break out in a case of practice equipment I was travelling with. Fortunately the case was a very heavy wooden tool chest and the fire was contained in a trap that is built in the lid. The fire was smothered by the case, but the silks, thread reels and manipulating b balls were ruined.
All it took was a hot summer day in a car. |
|||||||||
tabman Inner circle USA 5946 Posts |
When I was working for Kozak I decided to get a Pyro license
from the ATF because we were using so much fire. In Pittsburgh, the fire dept forced us to hire two firemen to be on site, one on each side of the stage dressed in boots, jacket and cover. That's when Koz dropped the fire and went to confetti. It amounted to extortion IMO. -=tabman
...Your professional woodworking and "tender" loving care in the products you make, make the wait worthwhile. Thanks for all you do...
http://Sefalaljia.com |
|||||||||
meekomagic New user 29 Posts |
It may be a good idea to omit some of the fire effects in your act due to the growing amount venues that don't allow fire..........
|
|||||||||
Stucky Inner circle I'm Batman! 1355 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-12-12 20:16, SteveTheMagician wrote: It was more than a small flame. It was the idiots who put the spark shooters next to the egg shell foam that the club thought would be a good idea to use as sound proofing. That whole incident could have been avoided in many ways, not just by the band but the club as well. Quote:
On 2007-07-24 15:42, aquamage wrote:Sooner or later SOMETHING will go wrong. The longer you do something stupid, the greater chance something stupid will happen to you.
Official Thread Killer
|
|||||||||
jazzy snazzy Inner circle run off by a mob of Villagers wielding 2109 Posts |
Folks still get very emotional here about that event.
Seems like everybody knows somebody who was affected. My next door neighbor lost his girlfriend. It was a perfect storm of arrogance, incompetance stupidity and greed. Live performances in small clubs really took a hit because of it. Now, with the bad economy, most bands here are working for the door. At least they are no longer allowed to set up in front of the fire exit. As performers, we must BE AWARE of the surroundings and working conditions at all times. If you see a potential safety issue, take steps to avoid it. It won't kill your act. We are the hired pros. The audience is there to party. Club owners don't care. Nobody wants something like the Station fire on their resume.
"The secret of life is to look good from a distance."
-Charles Schulz |
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Up in smoke! » » A matter of great concern for all of us (1 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.05 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |