# Seattle Arena "Fire" in the scoreboard



## derekleffew (Dec 3, 2007)

Gafftaper, what did you do?

> A member of the Seattle Fire Department carries a spotlight that was
> smoking in the scoreboard after the scoreboard was lowered to the
> floor during the first quarter. Associated Press photo by John
> Froschauer




This link makes it sound as if it were the fault of the MAC2000.


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## Charc (Dec 3, 2007)

He had the tank on, I think smoke inhalation was a big concern.  How long would it take to fill up that arena with smoke, ya think?

Edit:

Or is that some kind of extinguisher or retardant?


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## gafftaper (Dec 3, 2007)

I just saw the video on the 11:00 news. It appeared to show small flames coming out of the base of the MAC 2K. If it wasn't the source of the flame it was certainly the target of the flame's wrath. You could clearly see burning drips of black goo falling from the MAC. The news reporter said it was the base of the scoreboard that was on fire but it sure looked like the instrument to me.

I had nothing to do with it I was home decorating the Christmas tree with the little ones.


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## gafftaper (Dec 3, 2007)

Just found this on another local news site, apparently it was the MAC. I can't seem to find a better picture or video... 

"The game was delayed about 15 minutes in the first quarter when arena officials noticed a small fire coming from a spotlight attached to the bottom of the scoreboard above the court and smoke shooting from the top.

The scoreboard was lowered just above the floor, firefighters used an extinguisher to put out the flames and detached the spotlight.

"It was kind of fun. I've never seen anything like that burning," Golden State's Andris Biedrins said."


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## Grog12 (Dec 3, 2007)

charcoaldabs said:


> I'm curious, does a company like Martin investigate as to why one of their instruments was on fire, or do they forget about it?



Have you seen Fight Club? Remember what Ed Norton's character did for a living? There's your answer.


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## kwotipka (Dec 3, 2007)

charcoaldabs said:


> He had the tank on, I think smoke inhalation was a big concern.  How long would it take to fill up that arena with smoke, ya think?
> Edit:
> Or is that some kind of extinguisher or retardant?




It is SOP to leave the truck with your tank on and mask charged. Unfortunately, most firefighters in the past have ignored this and are paying the price for not having clean air to breath when they are doing overhaul. 

Just because you can't instantly feel the effects doesn't mean it's not bad for you. In this biz, this applies to UV light, high sound levels, fog/haze and of course something falling on your head.

kw


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## gafftaper (Dec 3, 2007)

charcoaldabs said:


> I'm curious, does a company like Martin investigate as to why one of their instruments was on fire, or do they forget about it?



I would assume that a top company like Martin, VL, or HES would take investigating these sorts of things very serious. They have a reputation of quality that they want to protect. When you charge $15,000 for an instrument and it catches fire on TV, that's not a good thing. I would also assume that if it turns out to be a manufacturer defect and not a maintenance or use/misuse issue, they would be very proactive in helping to get a new one out here to protect their good name. 

On the other hand some of our favorites companies to joke about probably wouldn't care... company names withheld to protect Dave from being sued by manufacturers of DJ crap.


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## Van (Dec 3, 2007)

Hmmmmm. I have intimate Knowledge of the company that installed all the Martin Fixtures in the Rose Garden here in Portland, I wonder if the same company installed the ones up there ? 

BTW Anybody ever been inside one of those scoreboards ? It's a trip. You don't think about how big they are until you see them on the deck, then you realize they are 3 1/2 to 4 stories tall!


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## gafftaper (Dec 3, 2007)

charcoaldabs said:


> On a different topic, I never really thought about it before, but what lighting do these sports arena's have? Was that MAC 2000 really illuminated the court? Is it conventionals? Do they have a lighting guy on-hand? Seems like you'd just want preprogrammed control. They never have any "special lighting", except for half-time shows maybe.



Yeah at basketball games it's mostly just houselights but they do special lighting for introducing the players at the start of the game as well as for half time shows. They usually play in a multi-purpose facility that does large concert tours all the time as well so they have a lighting crew. In the Seattle case, that arena is part of a complex with several city owned event facilities and I believe they have a staff who handles the tech needs for all the buildings.


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## punktech (Dec 4, 2007)

hmm, any news on _why_ there was a Mac2K on fire??? i'd enjoy knowing what caused it as this one company i work with at home uses them...


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## soundman (Dec 4, 2007)

punktech said:


> hmm, any news on _why_ there was a Mac2K on fire??? i'd enjoy knowing what caused it as this one company i work with at home uses them...




Mac 2ks have been in use for a while now and this is the first one I have heard of being involved in a fire. I wouldn't worry about specing them on anything.


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## Van (Dec 4, 2007)

I helped install a couple of mac500's and 600's along with some PAL's in the score board of the Rose garden several years ago. As Gaff said, they were mostly used in the intros for the players. I remember we ordered a Mighty Mouse glass color gobe for when they introduce Damon Stoudemire. They would occesionally use them during the half time celebrations as well. I applied for a job as the scorebaoard operator, to run the video package, and all the lights etc. but since I didn't live between I84 and the columbia river and MLK blvd and I205 I didn't qualify for the job < seriously Those were the major requirements>


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## Footer (Dec 4, 2007)

charcoaldabs said:


> On a different topic, I never really thought about it before, but what lighting do these sports arena's have? Was that MAC 2000 really illuminated the court? Is it conventionals? Do they have a lighting guy on-hand? Seems like you'd just want preprogrammed control. They never have any "special lighting", except for half-time shows maybe.



well, there is this.... http://www.highend.com/products/digital_lighting/ArenaView.asp


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## mixmaster (Jan 8, 2008)

kwotipka said:


> It is SOP to leave the truck with your tank on and mask charged. Unfortunately, most firefighters in the past have ignored this and are paying the price for not having clean air to breath when they are doing overhaul.
> Just because you can't instantly feel the effects doesn't mean it's not bad for you. In this biz, this applies to UV light, high sound levels, fog/haze and of course something falling on your head.
> kw


You speak like a fireman. Where are you out of?
While I agree with the overall point of your comment, in 10 years of firefighting, I've never come of the truck on air, and don't know too many places where that is in the SOPs. Typical SOPs dictate we come off the truck wearing packs but don't go on air until right before we go into the IDLH atmosphere. There is no sense wasting air if you don't go right in. But your right, I think as an industry as a whole, we drop the packs way to early and the wonder why we are still coughing up black crap for a couple of days. 
(I think we hijacked this thread )


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## kwotipka (Jan 8, 2008)

Did a short stint as a volunteer in south Louisiana. Had to put that on hold due to work/life. We came off the truck with masks on and airhose charged on belt. It was easy for me because I had a perscription facemask so if I wanted to see, I had to have my mask on.  If there was smoke showing, then all we had to do was snap in the regulator. I see a lot of the volunteers who have been around drop their packs when the smoke is still kind of thick. Me, I like my lungs. I don't mind burning a couple of tanks.

We are lucky that our dept has a nice cascade truck with about 30 spare bottles and refill capacity for about 25 more. I realize how lucky we were because we often provided mutual aid for other smaller communities around us.

kw


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## mixmaster (Jan 11, 2008)

kwotipka said:


> Did a short stint as a volunteer in south Louisiana. Had to put that on hold due to work/life. We came off the truck with masks on and airhose charged on belt. It was easy for me because I had a perscription facemask so if I wanted to see, I had to have my mask on.  If there was smoke showing, then all we had to do was snap in the regulator. I see a lot of the volunteers who have been around drop their packs when the smoke is still kind of thick. Me, I like my lungs. I don't mind burning a couple of tanks.
> We are lucky that our dept has a nice cascade truck with about 30 spare bottles and refill capacity for about 25 more. I realize how lucky we were because we often provided mutual aid for other smaller communities around us.
> kw



That's about what we do too. Our last major fire, we emptied the cascade system on the truck in a couple of hours. Were you on the dept when Katrina hit?


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## gafftaper (Jan 12, 2008)

This may be a CB first. A necropost hijack. That's pretty impressive.  Carry on guys... and thanks for keeping our families safe.


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## digitaltec (Jan 28, 2008)

it's not totally un-common for a light to catch on fire. Visible flames are a little rare. But I have seen/had 2 or 3 Mac 2000's smoke. In this case I would assume that the smoke was not see right away and it got to a point of visible flames.

To answer the question how long does it take to fill the Key Arena with smoke is about 30 minutes with two DF-50's. ha ha


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