Fighting Fires - In Public Entertainment Venues

This assessment examines the hazards, risks and controls that relate to fighting fires at venues where large numbers of the public attend for the purposes of entertainment.e.g.

• Sports stadia
• Open air venues
• Large night clubs

Buildings that are primarily used for other purposes, schools, shopping malls etc. Activities which involve specific, significant hazards are covered in other generic risk assessments (GRAs).¹

Reference is made throughout the document to other GRAs and other technical sources.

As with all GRAs this assessment provides a starting point for brigades to conduct their own assessments within the context of local conditions and existing organisational arrangements.

When called to incidents at which large numbers of people are gathered, the risks to personnel arise from the following hazards:

• access
• people
• other specific hazards

2.1.1 In normal circumstances the access difficulties of these venues are no more than are associated with other large structures or venues, these difficulties are liable to include:

• remote locations²
• restricted approach roads
• congested approach roads

Access to these venues becomes greatly more difficult during the time that an event is taking place. This often means that access to hydrants and/or other local firefighting facilities will be obstructed.

2.2.1 The sheer volume of people at entertainment venues presents a risk of serious injury not only to themselves but to emergency service personnel. The risk of injury to personnel arises from:

• the presence of people who are under the influence of alcohol or other substances
• the irrational behaviour of people in crowds responding to a fire situation
• the potentially violent response of members of the public towards service personnel.3

2.3.1 It is common for a number of other hazards to be present where large crowds are gathered for entertainment purposes these include:

• chaos, from the uncoordinated movement of crowds
• the presence of sharp objects, e.g. hypodermic needles
• the presence of pyrotechnics
• the competing demands placed on personnel by individual members of the public insisting on differing priorities.

3.1.1 In order to assist the retrieval from command and control mobilising systems, all venues should be identified by their titles , e.g. football grounds are often known locally by different names. Where local names are applicable these have to be included within the system as alternatives.

3.1.2 Research indicates that there is a consistent problem of delayed warning and poor communications between staff and public in fire disasters.4 Staged alarm systems in buildings such as department stores, shopping complexes should emphasise the importance of informing the public immediately that there is any indication of a potential danger to their lives.

3.1.3 Response Plans should be formulated for individual venues, comprising of an area plan, including information on various items such as:

• rendezvous points
• access routes
• water supplies
• fixed installations
• access arrangements

A copy of individual response plans should be available on every appliance likely to attend an incident.

Plans will be reviewed in the light of experience. This however, should not preclude reviews at other times should circumstances dictate, e.g. completion of major structural changes, etc.

Brigades need to make sufficient arrangements to ensure that personnel are aware of the contents of the plans and their roles within the response arrangements. By including response plans within station lecture programmes, brigades will ensure that crews who are likely to attend are familiar with all aspects of the plan.

Notification of major public entertainment events to the emergency services is the responsibility of the police. They will normally notify brigades of events in advance, thereafter the following actions should be taken.

Brigades will need to have effective arrangements in place to ensure that duty crews are aware of the event and any other specific additional relevant information. For example, crews will need to know information relating to:

• location of the event
• the type of event
• commencement time and completion time for the event
• estimated crowd attending
• emergency services rendezvous point
• the location of Police Control Point
• the best route to the stadium
• routes where congestion may occur and alternative routes
• available water supplies
• PDA for sports grounds

3.4.1 The initial brigade attendance to an incident at a major sports ground will proceed to the recognised access point on the response plan, or in the event of an automatic fire alarm call to the annunciation panel location. Should appliances receive specificinstructions to attend at a different locus either from Brigade Control or from Police Officers on the ground, these should be actioned as appropriate.

3.4.2 A silent approach in the immediate vicinity of the venue is recommended, to prevent unnecessary anxiety within the crowd.⁵

3.4.3 The Officer-in-Charge of any first attendance to an incident at or in the near vicinity of a venue where an event is in progress must ensure that the Senior Police Officer on duty is aware of the Brigade's attendance. This can be done through contact with any Police Officer on duty at the venue or via Brigade Control, requesting the attendance be logged in the Police Incident Log.

List of considerations for I.C. at Public Entertainment Venues

• Go to the pre-arranged rendezvous point.
• Establish communications with Senior Duty Police Officer.
• Ascertain the nature of the incident
• The brigade's major incident procedure

• Formulate plan - utilise response plan.
• Establish cordons.
• Liaise with other attending agencies.
• Focus resources on primary role (firefighting and rescue)
• Appoint communications officer.
• Appoint specialist officers for specific tasks e.g. safety officer.
• Remember - crowd control is the role of the Police.