To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 06:34:34 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Fire


John,
I was using exageration / humour.

I'm sorry to hear people died on New Years Eve from an unchecked fire 
hasard.
These happen way too often. Public places should always have at least two 
exits, accessible at all times.

Of course safety laws are necessary! Especially fire laws.
Everyone should know that by now.
Smoky the Bear (Only you can prevent Forest fires) must have colleagues 
worldwide.
When I was a kid, the fire mascot on our province's TV spots was an 
oversimplistic green arrow character. It looks weird to me now, but as a 
kid, I loved it so much, that when my parents made a stuffed doll of it for 
me, it became my favorite toy. I must still have it in a box somewhere, 
never could bring myself to throw it out.


And if some adults still don't know the dangers, maybe it's time families 
got back to living outdoors and let their babies play around the campfire, 
so they'll learn the danger by touch, fast. Instincts will probably stop 
them from actually touching the fire. This one is no exagerated example, it 
was actually common practice in tribes. Who ever heard of fences around the 
tribe's campfire?  Not practical for cooking, is it? We tend to overprotect 
our kids nowadays.  In my days, we played with live dinosaurs (and so on, 
and so forth).
While I understand that we need to protect them, overprotecting them 
deprives them of valuable experience. I once had to trick a ten year old 
into forgetting her peer-imposed fear of all blades, so she could use a 
craft knife in one of my school workshops!  I explained the safety rules, 
showed her how to hold and cut, told her how often people get cuts from it, 
and I even got the safety kit brought closer, just in case. I did not baby 
her, nor instilled fear. I left the decision to her, and went to help 
someone else. I kept an eye on her of course, but she was unaware of it. 
When she finally picked up the big OLFA LB knife, and started carving, there 
was a kind of unlocking. At the end of that morning, it turned out that she 
was naturally gifted as a carver, churning out mini spheres of styrofoam 
just for fun at lunchtime! I couldn't even carve that small that quick! So 
much more time could have been wasted, just because she had unjustifiably 
been made affraid of blades.

back on topic:
I just meant that the autorities exagerate, to the point of stopping our 
show-making effects, and sometimes the shows themselves. At some point, we 
have to decide if it's enough: sprinklers, smoke and carbon dioxyde 
detectors and fire extinguishers aren't that uncommon a combo in performing 
venues. That, and nowadays, most local authorities make fireproofed curtains 
mandatory in performing spaces. The chances of a dangerous fire in such 
equipped places are pretty slim.



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