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A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

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Re: A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

#21

Post by dnate »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #9
pryce wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have always wondered about the fire safety of these events, gathering large numbers of people in spaces not originally intended for that and with (I imagine) unusual constraints on planning mass exits. Do you happen to know whether the fire safety aspect gets scrutinized?

I remember the first time I took MDMA, about three years ago in the underground remnants of a Berlin public pool (“Stattbad” or “Stadtbad” if you want to google images). The surroundings were almost steampunk, with old pipes and boilers going each very way. Or maybe a WW2 submarine, but larger. Anyway, I remember an /extremely/ /interesting/ chat (as one is want to have under the influence) with someone working there…

IMO it is not a good thing that that venue had to close. But I guess that is the time we live in now. Much safer = Much better

Re: A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

#22

Post by lostlogin »

dnate wrote: post #21
IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time I took MDMA, about three years ago in the underground remnants of a Berlin public pool (“Stattbad” or “Stadtbad” if you want to google images). The surroundings were almost steampunk, with old pipes and boilers going each very way. Or maybe a WW2 submarine, but larger. Anyway, I remember an /extremely/ /interesting/ chat (as one is want to have under the influence) with someone working there…

IMO it is not a good thing that that venue had to close. But I guess that is the time we live in now. Much safer = Much better

With the history of fires in clubs and at events, I’m comfortable with closures until things are rectified. They might be rare but they are devastating.

Re: A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

#25

Post by kehrlann »

adrianN wrote: post #19
kehrlann wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing gets scrutinized - it's illegal to go down there anyway. Folks down there are not always safety conscious or very responsible :o) Sometimes there are parties with tens or over a hundred people in a big room that only has two crawl holes to exit it. About fire safety, well it's pretty damp down there, mostly with rocks and dirt. Can't picture a whole room catching fire... But I'm no expert in fire safety.

In a place with sufficiently tight exits like the crawl holes you mentioned, it is enough if there is a little smoke to cause a panic. People will die from being trampled even if there is no actual danger from the fire.

Home-made smoke bombs are a classic (and annoying) prank in the underground. Fills an entire gallery in less than a minute: https://www.loupiote.com/photos_l/catacombes-de-paris-cataco...

Parties I was talking about look like this: https://youtu.be/6E-F-cVqubU

Re: A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

#26

Post by kehrlann »

jacquesm wrote: post #16
kehrlann wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing gets scrutinized - it's illegal to go down there anyway. Folks down there are not always safety conscious or very responsible :o) Sometimes there are parties with tens or over a hundred people in a big room that only has two crawl holes to exit it. About fire safety, well it's pretty damp down there, mostly with rocks and dirt. Can't picture a whole room catching fire... But I'm no expert in fire safety.

Gas leak... depending on how far down you are, old gas lines tend to leak little bits of gas because they get porous that can pool.

Never heard of such an incident in the catacombs before.

In my uninformed opinion, this seems unlikely: gas pipes in Paris are buried less than 1m deep, whereas the catacombs are 10 to 30m underground, below service galleries for utilities, sewers, and even the subway.

Re: A Three-Day Expedition To Walk Across Paris Underground

#27

Post by kehrlann »

baud147258 wrote: post #14
L_226 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. I definitely saw people digging though, and I went through large sections that were newly dug. This was in 2014. Also, sometimes new building foundations are cut into the existing tunnels, and new tunnels are also dug into building foundations. Interestingly, the cataphiles I spoke to strongly 'discouraged' theives from entering buildings in this way. Something about not drawing undue attention from authoritie…

I heard that story of authorities blocking some tunnels and cataphiles removing the blocks from someone who went down there; I don't know how widespread it was.

It's a common game of cat and mice, still "played" to this day. When they can be bothered enough, authorities will fill a section of a gallery with concrete. And, in turn, when cataphiles can be bothered enough, they tear down a piece of an adjacent wall and dig through the dirt on the other side to go around the blocked section. I've also seen crawl holes dug under 1m-or-2m-thick rubble walls.

Amazing to see the length people will go to :')

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