NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - 18

Dispatches

READY FOR
'ACTION!'?

AFTER A DEADLY BLAZE IN NEW YORK CITY,
EXPERTS STRESS THE IMPORTANCE OF FIRE
SAFETY ON MOVIE AND TV SETS
By Angelo Verzoni
hen New York City firefighters
responded to a blaze in a Harlem
townhouse on March 22, 2018, they
reportedly didn't understand the
gravity of the situation they were
about to find themselves in.
According to reports, firefighters thought they
were responding to a routine fire in an abandoned
basement. In reality, a movie production company
had converted the basement into a set consisting
of a maze of fake walls adorned with decorations
containing highly combustible plastics-in other
words, the fire was anything but routine.
After veteran firefighter Michael Davidson
entered the basement, he became separated from
his fellow firefighters amidst the movie set's
warren of fake walls. Overcome by the dense, toxic
smoke exploding from the flaming walls and set
decorations, Davidson's oxygen tank emptied. By
the time he was found, it was too late to save him.
Davidson, 37, a firefighter for 15 years, left behind
a wife and four children.
While the New York City Fire Department
(FDNY) has said the fire was caused by a broken
boiler in the building, others suspect the production

A New York City
firefighter died
while responding to
a fire in this Harlem
townhouse, which
was being used as
a movie set. FDNY
officials said they
were unaware that
filming was taking
place inside the
building or that
a set had been
created in the
basement.

18 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9

PROTECTING 'MOBILE CITIES'
While movie set fires are relatively uncommon-
only about 10 occur each year, according to NFPA
data-they have been a concern for decades.

NEWSCOM

MOVIE SET FIRE SAFET Y

company unknowingly tampered
with the building's electrical
system, sparking the fire.
This March, just over a year
after the fire, FDNY released a
117-page report on the incident,
which established the claim that
firefighters were unaware they
were responding to a movie set
fire and cited set materials as a
contributing factor in Davidson's
death. According to the Associated Press, the FDNY report
found that the highly combustible set decorations fueled the
flames, while the fake walls
concealed the fire's true severity
as firefighters entered the basement. Multiple lawsuits have
been filed against the city and
the production company behind
the movie, actor and filmmaker
Edward Norton's Class 5 Productions. An article published in the
online magazine Deadline Hollywood said the incident "serves as
a cautionary tale worth absorbing by anyone who engages in
location shoots for movies and
TV shows."
Experts involved in overseeing safety on movie and
television sets agree. And in
recent interviews with NFPA
Journal, they stressed the
importance of following the
guidelines outlined in documents like NFPA 140, Standard
on Motion Picture and Television Production
Studio Soundstages, Approved Production Facilities, and Production Locations, and embracing
training opportunities to prevent future incidents
like the one that occurred in Harlem.
"These aren't just movie or TV sets," said Alan
Rowe, safety and training director for the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees
Local 728 union in Hollywood, California. "This is
an industrial process and that requires all the necessary safety steps to be taken."

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NFPA Journal - May/June 2019

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