I once was working a week as city and county fire investigator, had been up for about 48 hours and they called me to a venue where they were selling cars. The building was an abandoned paper warehouse, and a car dealership rented it in winter to shove 200 cars into it for a sale. It had no heat, and I'd been in there making the owner secure the place the previous week. The red faced salespeople being sick in the snowbank was the first clue, then the 5 of those monster propane heaters were visible from the door. I waited for a fire truck, we put on masks, evacuated the place, and I confiscated the propane tanks which were just free standing beside the heaters.

The dealer phone the mayor. It's a wonder no one died. The chief reamed me an hour later, I was to 'short' with the dealership owner. I looked at him and asked me if I he was going to give me a ride home. I looked at him and said 52 hours up and counting and there is another fire to go to 50 miles away and I'm unable to drive.

When the 'gas' inspector showed up just as we were leaving he reamed the chief and said I did the right thing.

I have enough trouble with venues with crazy setups, one retirement home has a fireplace that is set to auto 76 degrees. You sit in front of it. I couldn't change it, and the fans whistle a bflat when it runs. I was transposing tunes to bflat for a bagpipe effect. I used to play at the cities public nursing home, it's 80 inside in the summer and the residents have blankets wrapped around them. Some moron decided the staff needed air conditioning, the residents almost all died from frostbite.

If it's a busy venue I often ask them to turn off the heat when I start, that way the forced air system does not come on and toast you and the people in the room may provide even more heat than required.

John Conley
Musica est vita