Yes, clearly poi spinners, fire breathers, fire eaters, staff spinners etc. are all "open fame" artists. My first comment was really just to illustrate the fact that it's the same paperwork no matter what the scale of the performance is (even one person holding a candle in front of an audience, technically) and I lament the difficulty at finagling all of this work and money just to bring in one guy with a set of poi. That is, however, me speaking as a jaded fire artist who no longer sees the danger inherent in the art, at least on the scale and in the venues that I am used to so I will yield to that fact.

However, my understanding is that the state ordinances outrank the local city codes, no matter what they are. I began my exploration of the NH legal system regarding fire performance by calling the town fire department, only to have them defer to the state officials. Next, I spoke at length to the man in charge of flame effects and pyrotechnics permitting at the Department of Fire Safety in NH and came out of it with the facts that I have listed in my previous posts. So at least for NH, that is just how it is.

I do want to say that I am glad to hear about how things like this work in, for example, Pennsylvania and California. That was really my intent in starting this topic because I'm sure it will benefit us all to get a better understanding of the legal procedures in different states in the event that any of us book a performance outside of our local comfort zone.

after years of efforts in working with the local fire department, they call us to write permits for them. previously, performance permits didn't exist