POLICY: Use of Haze in TAS Buildings

Policy: Use of Haze in TAS Buildings

How haze, HVAC, fire alarms, and Fire Watch intersect

Summary

Haze is prohibited in The Austin Stone buildings at this time. There is no type of haze at this time that will not potentially set off the smoke detectors in the HVAC system. Because the consequences of false fire alarms are so serious, we cannot risk using this effect.

Background

With the increase in video production during the COVID season, there have been instances where a production shoot has set off the fire alarm in our buildings because of their use of video haze.  The facilities team began to research how we might be able to allow the use of haze in our buildings without the risk of setting off false alarms in those buildings.  The goal was to find a system or process that (1) didn’t add too much administrative burden on either the Facilities or Production to execute and (2) was affordable.  

What is Haze? 

Haze is the use of an intentional, chemical fog that is created by a specific haze, or fog, machine. The typical use of haze is found in live and recorded productions along with some photo shoots. 

What impact does haze have on our buildings? 

While there is no lasting impact on any building by using haze, the difficulty with using this product within our buildings is the direct impact haze has on our HVAC and Fire Alarm systems. Depending on the amount of particulates detected, the result can range from shutting down the unit to setting off the full building alarm, causing building evacuation and fire department notification. That day’s temperature and humidity make it difficult, if not impossible, to predict how the system will respond on any given day,  and therefore, difficult to guarantee an alarm-free event ahead of time.

How do the Fire Alarm and HVAC systems work together? 

HVAC ductwork has internal smoke detectors (i.e. the fire alarm system) that use an IR light beam to detect any particulate in the air that will diffract the IR beam.  Because of this design and the way the system functions, there is not a particular type of haze that is less likely to trigger the detector than others, since the very reason that haze is used is because of its light-diffracting nature. 

What is the result of a False Alarm? 

At a minimum, it costs our organization both money in reputation with the fire department and false alarm fees, not to mention an interruption of whatever is happening at the building. 

We highlight “reputation” because our fire department, specifically at STJ, has become less trusting of us with each and every false alarm.  We’ve heard rumors that this fire department prefers to ignore our alarms and reluctantly responds to them. It’s a perception that could cost us in both property and, perhaps, even lives down the road. We can incur fines as well with each false alarm that no one really wants to pay. 

The worst-case scenario is an unnecessary evacuation of the building. In addition to being a large distraction and inconvenience, a building evacuation also poses safety and security concerns to event attendees and children in our care. 

What about Fire Watch? Can’t we hire a company to perform this service and bypass the alarms? 

This is common practice for many music venues, however, there are a number of challenges that our buildings uniquely face that make this option difficult: 

• We never designed our buildings to function as music venues, so our HVAC and Fire Alarm systems cannot be disengaged from one another (which would be the case at a traditional music venue.) They are integrated together in our buildings.
• Fire Watch companies have to work with TAS, the Fire Alarm Monitoring Company, and the fire alarm technicians.  Scheduling all three entities would require a great deal of advanced planning, costs, and coordination by the facilities team and detailed plans by a production team. This coordination is not something that can be handled by someone who is not intimately familiar with the building and its associated systems.

Conclusion: 

Given this research, we believe it would be a nonessential burden for us to allow the use of haze in our buildings, and therefore, we must prohibit the use of haze in our buildings at this time. If a production event believes that haze is absolutely essential to accomplishing the purpose of the event, we recommend that the event find an alternate rental space that can accommodate those specific needs.