Ioka Theatre
Ioka Theatre;Recently while in Exeter, I noticed that the historical Ioka theatre was closed due to lack of fire suppression equipment. Louis B. Mayer, production head of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios started his career in Haverhill, Massachusetts where he owned six theatres on River St. Edward Mayer; Louis’ nephew was a Rockingham county judge and resided in Exeter. When Edward saw the crowds of people that were lined up at his famous uncle’s theatres in Haverhill he knew what to do. It took Edward two years to secure financial backing and another year to find a suitable spot to put his new theatre. Construction started in March of 1915 and in November the theatre opened its doors at 55 Water Street
Being a layman in construction I was thinking what’s the big deal bring in some plumbers, twist up some black iron pipe, sheetrock a soffit here and there brush on some paint and start taking money for the April vacation shows. Well that mindset does not even scratch the surface as to what would have to be done.
Life Safety Systems: If you have ever been in a building and wondered what will happen in case of an emergency or fire you are not alone and you do not have to worry, that has already been taken care of for you. Before you build, remodel, rehab or renovate any building in any state the engineers that are involved in the planning process have or will incorporate all practices and procedures set forth by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). The NFPA 3 Life Safety Code (LSS) helps architects and engineers incorporate state of the art tactics that help building constructors achieve fire and life safety in the built environment. The LSS is designed, inspected and enforced by fire fighting personnel nationwide and no occupancy permit is issued without the local inspector’s seal of approval.
After looking into the nuts and bolts of a LSS I was blown away how much work and effort goes into a system and can see that my mindset before doing the research for this article was pretty bad. Luckily after this you and I now have a much better understanding how cool these systems are and a little about how they work.