Top 3 Tips for Booking a Fire Show

And feeling safe about it.

Hiring a fire performer can be a scary thing but the benefits of having a great fire performer can do wonders for your event. From shared photo’s/video’s and word of mouth. People love talking about the crazy, beautiful acts they saw at your last event. A well-placed fire act or show can add the WOW! Factor and drive people to return every year and bring more and more people with them each time.
However, as an organizer or event planner the first thing that goes through your head is safety. “How safe are they?” and “are they going to burn my event down or hurt somebody?”
These are great questions to ask and any good planner should be questioning it. After all you want your event to go on without a hitch.
How can you make sure to bring the WOW factor and have a safe event? Here’s the top 3 list of what to look for in fire performer.

1. Experience
   This is huge! Does the performer have adequate experience in the fire arts? Have you seen any photo’s or videos of the performer? All performers will have photo’s or video’s showing their talents. If you have not seen any, ask them to send some! BONUS: you can ask to use those same photo’s or videos for promo!
2. Knowledge of the laws
   Does the performer have a solid understanding of the local laws/By-Laws. In Winnipeg all indoor fire show’s must submit a fire safety plan to the Fire Dept. that includes:
   - Fire Effects
   -Safety Protocols
   - Fuel types and Quantities
   - Floor plans
   - Management Approvals
   If you want more piece of mind you can request that they submit it for outdoor shows as well!
   Outside of Winnipeg may have other bylaws or restrictions.
3. Insurance
   In most cases this does not come up, but I believe that the added benefits of Insurance outweigh the cons. It’s up to you if this is important to your event. I went 5 years of performing fire without insurance as it was not available.

Up until a few years ago insurance for a fire performer was hard to come by. It wasn’t even available in Canada. Performers had to go through an American third-party insurer and that can carry a lot of fine print. Nowadays there is performance insurance available. It can come at a hefty price to the performer, but it adds a little bit more security to your event. You can expect to pay an insured performer more than an uninsured but that comes with peace of mind.
Standard performers liability insurance covers $1-2 Million. Some performers may carry more.
 
At the end of the day it’s important to communicate with the performer. They are trained professionals and will hopefully ease your concerns or offer solutions to any concerns you may have.