ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The spooky season is officially here, and as part of that, some people will be planning that perfect Halloween haunted house or similar display.
For those making such plans, the Liberal Fire Department said there are some safety precautions and logistics to keep in mind.
“This time of year, haunted house displays get to be very prevalent in the area, and we get a lot of phone calls and questions. But a lot of people don’t know, if they want to have a haunted house or big Halloween display, they should get in touch with our Fire Marshal, Cody Regier,” Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk said. “Haunted houses, by nature, are designed to discombobulate you and scare you while in a maybe unfamiliar environment, so you have to take a lot of extra care to make sure everyone is safe. Haunted houses are very strictly regulated at the state level, so there’s going to be a pretty extensive checklist to follow, and there’s a lot of logistics that go into such a display. Decorations have to be fire-retardant, and there also have to be emergency exits in case something happens. I would highly encourage anyone wanting to put together a haunted house display to get in contact with us early on to go over everything and make sure it’s all up to snuff. It takes a lot of time and work, but getting in touch with us early will save a lot of headache down the road.”
Like everything else, Kirk said, it is extremely important thing to have a plan.
“A big thing is to make sure you have a site plan and have an idea of what the overall layout will be and what decorations/attractions will go where. They’ll also need to be cognizant of whether or not they’re putting combustibles in areas that might be too close to heat sources like lights or smoke machines or things like that, and we can definitely provide some guidance as far as safe distances and all of that,” Kirk said. “There also needs to be enough space for people to move through, and if your haunted house is going to be in a building, make sure there are plenty of emergency exits and emergency lighting so any necessary aid can be rendered if need be. Right now, we’re actually working with the Seward County Historical Society and the Coronado Museum staff on an event they’re planning and making sure all the logistics are in place for everything they want to do. It’s a long list of things to keep in mind, but the main thing is for us to be able to help give some guidance so everything is fun/spooky and safe at the same time. We’ve had some unfortunate instances in the past where people have started putting everything together and spent quite a bit of time and money and ended up putting themselves in a bit of a corner and later found out there were multiple violations of the rules and regulations. Don’t commit yourself too much to something until everything gets firmed up and you know you can accomplish what you want.”
For people who make plans to put up spooky displays for the season, Kirk said a particularly prominent question is about the site.
“A lot of the questions we get are about the overall space the person is thinking of. There are some haunted house displays that are outdoors, which can work really well, but when they get taken into a building space, it’s more of a short-term deal, and that space might not be fully set up in regard to the number of emergency exits and the distance to said exits, smoke alarms and emergency lighting, things like that,” Kirk said. “A lot of the initial questions concern whether or not the space the person wants is actually conducive to their display plan is. Decorations are another big thing – a lot of people want to bring in pallets and painter’s cloth tarps and straw bales and things like that, but not all of that can go inside a building unless it’s sprinkled or you’ve taken the time to buy legitimately fire-retardant materials. All of that, we are more than happy to provide guidance and advice on. And we know it’s a tricky balance to strike because you obviously have your vision of what you want your Halloween display to look like, but when you have other members of the public involved, overall safety also has to come into play.”
And while Halloween will not fall upon the community until the end of the month, Kirk said the fire department has already gotten some queries from people.
“Like I said, we’re working with the Seward County Historical Society and the Coronado Museum on their event, and I’m sure we’ll get more calls and questions from other individuals and groups wanting to put together a Halloween display,” Kirk said. “The main message I would want to send out is if you’re wanting to do a haunted house display or something special for Halloween, don’t commit yourself TOO deeply to something and make sure to get in touch with us so we can help you make sure everything’s safe. Halloween’s never really a busy holiday for us aside from dealing with the Halloween display questions. The only major outstanding thing for us on Halloween night is making sure we’re cognizant of all the young trick-or-treaters who will be out and about in the dark, so we’ll need to keep that extra traffic in mind if there’s a call we have to respond to.”
Overall, Kirk said, he hopes the community has a fun and safe Halloween season.
“Like all holidays, we hope everyone has a safe, fun and happy Halloween,” Kirk said. “Be careful with everything that goes along with the Halloween season, whether it’s with your decorations display or your lit jack-o-lantern. If everyone will just take a few extra simple precautions, everything will go smoothly.”
