LAUREL, Del. - Halloween Haunted houses have COVID-19 safety guidelines to meet in 2020, but they've always had to meet fire safety guidelines. The businesses must get a permit from the state fire marshal at least 15 days before their opening date in order to bring all of their ghouls to life.
Only 25 people at a time are allowed inside of haunted houses as per the state fire marshal's code. Each structure must have at least two emergency exits. The Nightmare's Haunted House in Laurel has four. The scream team can move the walls to force everyone outside.
"We actually have people get so scared that they run out of them," says Haunt Manager Gary Reed.
The Nightmare's Haunted House has fire extinguishers at every exit and emergency lights in case people need to run out in a real emergency.Â
"All of our fog is water based, so we have somebody who is in the room with the fog machine, able to monitor when they're empty to keep them from overheating," Reed says.
Reed says there haven't been any accidents in Nightmare's 20 years. Assistant State Fire Marshal Michael Chionchio hasn't heard of one in his 28 years.
"We want to see that the decorations are fire retardant," Chionchio says.
Fire inspections for haunted houses are similar to public buildings.
"Operators have flashlights, run fire drills with the employees," Chionchio says.
Chionchio says the goal is to help haunted houses give people a fun and safe Halloween, but some things aren't allowed.
No candles, open flames, pyrotechnics," Chionchio says.
COVID-19 safety guidelines are also in place. People must wear face masks, not just Halloween masks and Nightmare's Haunted House will even give them gloves if they want them to touch surfaces while walking through.
"We've bought a fogger that allows us to go before all the different groups come in to sanitize everything down," Reed says. "All our electric is ran above us, so we're able to monitor where everything is at."
Tickets go on sale at the door at 7 p.m. on Friday's and Saturday's, but no one can go inside until a local fire truck arrives to stay all night.