As the biggest dance festival in the world gets started in Boom, organisers point to several measures that have been taken to ensure the safety of festival-goers following last year’s devastating fire. But one expert questions the quality of the risk analysis.
The world’s biggest dance festival, Tomorrowland, kicks off today in Boom, Antwerp province. Some 200,000 international festival-goers are descending on the terrain over the next three days.
The festival is not allowed to launch it’s famed opening night fireworks display because of drought conditions in Flanders, which are affecting Antwerp province in particular. How fireworks are managed on following festival days has also changed, as stored fireworks exacerbated a situation that saw Tomorrowland’s main stage burn to the ground two days before the start of last year’s festival.
Still no official cause of fire
There were no injuries and, a year later, it has still not been determined what caused the fire. Sources speaking to VRT have pointed to a test of flame projectors on the stage. Fireworks were being stored at the stage, which exacerbated the situation.
As Tomorrowland’s enormous and highly creative main stage is composed of extremely flammable materials, the entire stage was quickly engulfed in flames.
The stage is this year composed of the same materials, which is leading to criticism from fire safety experts. As the building of the massive stage starts a year ahead of time, the festival had little time to incorporate changes. But that’s not good enough, says fire prevention consultant Tim Renders.
The former firefighter and fire prevention instructor says that there are protective coatings that should be used on flammable materials. “However, the fire department and the mayors involved do need to receive certificates for those protective coatings,” he notes. “There are clear rules regarding this, and there are many different products.”
Following last year’s fire, Tomorrowland turned to the Crisis Governance Chair at the University of Antwerp, which carried out a risk analysis of the festival terrain. The Chair found that Tomorrowland had a “robust safety framework” in place and that the overall risk assessment was “low to moderate”. It stated that no fundamental structural changes were necessary.
There is always a chance of fire, and an analysis should be based on how you can prevent it
Fire safety consultant Tim Renders
The Chair did say that fireworks should not be stored in or around stages and that changes had to be made in how stage pyrotechnics were integrated. Tomorrowland has adapted infrastructure to conform to these measures.
The festival also took additional measures, such as adding more screens to indicate emergency exits, improved crowd control and adding additional security at strategic locations for faster reactions during potential emergency situations. These are all positive improvements, says Renders, but “they are largely aimed at getting people to safety. This doesn’t mean that your event is fire-safe.”
Renders points to the first principle of fire safety—that a fire does not start in the first place, and does not spread it if does start. “There is always a chance of fire, and an analysis should be based on how you can prevent it. If you say that the risk is minimal, then people are not going to worry about it anymore. They think that taking a few measures and adding a few people solves everything.”
Tomorrowland , completely sold out, takes place this weekend and next weekend.