Fire Safety

For many years, I worked as the Business Administrator for a large church.  As you can well imagine, Christmas and Easter are always times of very high attendance in worship.

On the occasion of the church’s 50th anniversary (that’s not much in Poznan, but quite a milestone in Tucson) the senior pastor (who is a dear friend of mine, but I don’t think he reads my blog) said to a reporter that we had set up so many folding chairs at Easter to accommodate the overflow that the fire marshal would have shut us down if he’d seen it.

Guess what?  The fire marshal reads that newspaper, and he sent his assistant to visit the church and explain to us the reasons for occupancy laws and that yes, indeed, he could shut us down for violations – a fact we would do well to remember.  In the United States, you’ll see a sign near the entrance of most commercial buildings, restaurants, etc. – “Occupancy Limit 295 by order of the Fire Marshall.”  Not only is there a limit on the number of people in the space, but also on the furniture that can be added, such as folding chairs.

Wouldn’t you know it?  The senior pastor was on sabbatical when the fire department came to call, so the associate pastor got the talking to and the maintenance guy and I spent a morning with two officials measuring walkways in the sanctuary to determine where folding chairs could be set up and where they could not.

An illustration from the Internet, not the church – we didn’t have an ATM inside, but I did occasionally joke about the need for one

After this education and my tendency toward claustrophobia, I’ve noticed that there don’t seem to be such laws in Poland.  (Based on some hotel rooms in the UK, I have my doubts about them too.)  The recent tragedy in Brazil highlights the need clear and open paths of egress, and spurred my ramblings today.

In more than one bar in Poznan, I’ve had thoughts about how would we get out in an emergency.  In many places, the establishment is in the basement of a very old building, with only one narrow doorway at the top of the stairs.  You may wander through a maze of tiny, little rooms before you find a place to sit.  And that maze?  It’s stuffed with people sitting in chairs at tables – chairs that get moved around, willy nilly.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Polish wait staff say, “we can’t have a chair here; we need to leave an open pathway.”

It’s kind of like sitting in the middle seat on a airplane.  Except that the row is 20 seats wide, so to get up, you ‘ll need to have 10 people move out of your way or climb over them.

Remember though, I did mention claustrophobia.  I take an anti-anxiety medication for trans-Atlantic flights.  It’s not the flying that bothers me; it’s being in such cramped quarters for hours on end.  I remember us meeting friends at BSA Sports Pub to watch an FC Barcelona match and saying to Ed, I don’t think I can take this for 3 hours.  With Lamaze breathing, I did manage to make it until half-time.