Lauhala and grass thatching

I may have an issue with a city inspector that is very particular about fire safety in public places. Wondering if any have similar situations/advice to give.

I ordered grass thatching and lauhala that was fire treated... I received certification from CA fir marshal to confirm this. My inspector may have still have problems with this type of decor??? he will conduct his own tests on the materials.

Inspector even told me about a fire disaster at the "Coconut Grove" which killed hundreds.. fire started because of grass thatching supposedly???

Has anyone experienced anything like this??? Obviously, this material is a big part of the decor. Should I be woried??????
Kalani

The Coconut Grove fire was in the pre flame retardant era..and was the catalyst for all modern fire codes...They'll all whip that one out.

coconut grove...wasn't that the Boston Night Club?

if the thatching and matting was treated correctly, you should be able to hold a lit match against it and it won't catch. When I did set construction for plays, the stage manager would do that to make sure everything was fire proof.

No the Coconut Grove was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Its where Robert Kennedy was killed. The Coconut grove had big palm trees inside that were made for the movie "The Sheik" with Valentio back in the 20's. The movie was filmed on the beach in Oxnard where the Channel Island Marina is today. BTW The Ambassador is being torn down to make room for a new school.

Hey Lalani, what is it yer working on?

Thanks guys for the input.

I talked more with the inspector and he wants acutal fire and smoke ratings... I tracked some info down and got test results faxed to me (the tests were paid by Oceanic Arts and Bensons Imports). So we will see if they will pass with the inspector???

He also wanted flame/smoke ratings for bamboo fence I have along several of the walls... this will be a problem as the bamboo I purchaed was not offered in flame retardant. The company that sold it to me says they never have offered this.

Anyone have any info on flame/smoke ratings on bamboo. (thats probably the most ridiculous question asked here, right?)

Oh, and this is for decor of a Chicago tiki bar.
Thanks
Kalani, aka Scott

I am very curious which way this will go Kalani, as i will run into the same problems in the future.
All the best & please keep us informed.

_Ps maybe these guys can help you a bit more, i see they had some 'problems' with fire retardents too: http://www.tikilounge.biz/genesis.html

[ Edited by: Tiki Rotterdam 2005-09-24 01:05 ]

Kalani, how did you make out with this? I mentioned fire to my wife and she whigged.

I'm really up against it: A) I'm from MA where the Coconut Grove fire was B) When wifey was in Honolulu (of all places) for grad school, the building next door burned down and people died. This caused her to leave grad school! Now I can't buy anything that's not fireproof. This seems to triple the cost! I don't know if I can afford this project suddenly.

Does anyone know if they make a spray fire retardant?

pappy - yes they do. Here is a quick link to some on the internet:

http://www.franksupply.com/bamboo_products.htm#fireretardant

but do a search for spray fire retardent locally. Theatical prop shops would definately have some, or be able to point you in the right direction on where to find it. good luck!

Dank U!

OK, I bought a gallon of this stuff. If the house burns down, I'll let y'all know.

http://www.natfire.com/Fx_order.htm