NFPA Journal - July/August 2019 - 59

TOP, NEWSCOM; BOTTOM, REUTERS

DIFF'RENT STROKES
As the industry
grows, so does the
array of escape room
themes and novelties.
Top, participants
search for clues in a
jail-themed escape
room. At right, participants encounter a
brave new world in a
promotional photo for
a new escape room in
London, England.

committees. Some members of the general public had voiced concerns to the
state's fire service over a new attraction
that was "locking people inside rooms,"
Quinterno told me in May, so he and a
couple of other fire safety professionals
went to check it out.
What they found was that the escape
room in question wasn't actually locking participants in-but operators
weren't explaining that to participants,
and they also weren't informing them
of what to do in the event of an emergency like a fire.
Quinterno's first reaction wasn't
to blame the business, but rather the
state's inspection system. "It bothered
me," he said. "I was thinking to myself,
'What are we doing wrong here to have
[a business like this] fall through the
cracks? Are we not educating escape
room owners about the importance of
having an emergency action plan?'" It
was especially troubling for him given
the fact that Rhode Island was the
site of one of the deadliest assembly

occupancy fires in US history, when
The Station nightclub burned in West
Warwick in 2003, killing 100 people.
Since his first encounter with escape
rooms three years ago, Quinterno
said he "would like to think things
have improved," but he hasn't visited
enough of them to know for sure.
According to Denley, improvement
has happened. For the 200 or so escape
rooms he's helped design, the owners
or facility managers have all had good
relationships with the local AHJ, he
told me, even if sometimes he's been
the one initiating those relationships.
"I always get the building inspectors
and fire marshals involved from the
very beginning, and I think anyone
who doesn't is a fool who's asking for
trouble," Denley said. "It's all about
checks and balances. It doesn't take
a lot to comply and do it safely." One
thing Denley stresses in his work,
for example, is the importance of
educating escape room employees on
emergency evacuation procedures, and

he's found "that goes a long way with
the fire marshals."
Quinterno still worries, though, that
even if the inspection and permitting
process for escape rooms has evolved
over the years, the changing nature of
escape rooms-it's typical for an escape
room to offer new and rotating attractions-could present hazards. "While
these escape rooms might comply
when they open, who's to say that they
stay in compliance once in operation,
such as after redesigning a room?" he
said. "Are AHJs approving these modified plans?"
Quinterno hopes the regulation
of escape rooms will become clearer
with the release of the 2021 edition of
NFPA 101. Annex language related to
escape rooms has been proposed for
the future edition of the code, an effort
led by a task group that included Quinterno. (For more on proposed changes
to NFPA 101 related to escape rooms,
see this issue's "In Compliance" on
page 36.)
The proposed language would,
among other things, offer guidance on
whether to classify escape rooms as
special amusement buildings, business
occupancies, or something else. Special
amusement buildings, being a type of
assembly occupancy, warrant more
stringent means of fire and life safety
protection, including automatic fire
sprinklers and smoke detection systems that, when activated, also trigger
the illumination of emergency lighting.
Quinterno said he favors the special
amusement classification, but Harrington warned it could unnecessarily
put some facilities out of business. "For
the one I went to in Worcester, there'd
be no reason to classify it as a special
amusement building," Harrington said.
Even so, Quinterno said he prefers to
"err on the side of caution."
"Unfortunately, I feel that sometimes
people get carried away," Quinterno
said. "The special amusement classification is a bit more restrictive and
requires a sprinkler system and a
supervised fire alarm system. ... We're
such a reactionary society and we need
to be more proactive."
ANGELO VERZONI is a staff writer for NFPA Journal.

N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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NFPA Journal - July/August 2019

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