The bizarre background of one current fire safety law

As you might imagine of professionals in fire equipment maintenance like those of Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com), we're always keeping an eye on the latest headlines that relate to our specialism, and took a particular interest in an article in The Telegraph covering the views on fire safety legislation of Luke Bisby, Professor of Fire and Structures at Edinburgh University. He spoke in the article of how study in his engineering field changes people's lives - including his own.

"I always say to first-year engineering students if there's one thing your degree will give you, it's the ability to annoy your family ad nauseam," he reflected. "Everywhere you go, you will now see the world in a different way." He is further quoted as stating that his experiences as a fire engineer had made enjoyment of Edinburgh nightclubs impossible for him, given the widespread use of Georgian buildings with limited exits and many guests. He either couldn't bring himself to enter such nightclubs, he said, or would end up standing right by the door in readiness for something to happen.

An affable Canadian, Prof Bisby is one of just a few fire engineers in Britain concerned with designing buildings and cities in a way that prevents them burning down - so his views are well worth listening to for anyone undertaking a fire risk assessment on their building. His job might be amusing in many ways, given the hours spent in the lab designing model buildings before having been torched to the ground, but it's also one in which he has learned the rather bizarre basis on which certain modern fire safety regulations have come into being.

For example, nobody investing in fire extinguishers for business will be shocked to learn of the tight fire safety regulations surrounding modern offices, including the need for any employee to be able to reach a fire exit in no more than two and a half minutes. Given how fundamental this rule is to our modern built environment, one might have imagined good, solid reasoning behind it - but actually, that period of time is apparently the mean length of the British national anthem God Save The Queen, when played in full by a concert orchestra. Apparently, the history of this stipulation can be traced back to a 1911 fire at the Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh.

A French illusionist, The Great Lafayette, was performing the night's final illusion when the stage was set alight by a lamp at the back of the set. With the audience left watching the spectacle, presuming it to be part of the illusion, God Save The Queen needed to be played by the orchestra to rouse them to their feet. Most of the audience - although sadly not Lafayette himself or his body double - survived the fire. Here at fire alarm system providers Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com), it certainly made us wonder what other current fire safety laws may have rather curious origins!

Editor’s Note: Triple Star Fire (http://www.triplestarfire.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.