The Biberacher Schützenfest is a traditional folk festival in Biberach an der Riß with 80,000 visitors every year. It takes places from the city of Biberach to the hill Gigelberg, which we analyzed.
One of the measurements to guarantee the safety of the continuously rising number of visitors is to do some rework on the evacuation concept. Therefore, one of our partners regarding event security, Beratungsbüro für Veranstaltungssicherheit, was assigned on behalf of the foundation Stiftung Schützendirektion Biberach.
When we plan smaller or medium size venues, one can apply the commonly used calculation formula. But when it comes to temporary events with high movement of visitors and different hot spots, this calculation turns out to be way more complicated. On top of that, if you organize a city festival or an event outdoors you will reach limits pretty quickly with the traditional analysis.
André Werner, BbVS
accu:rate supported this project with the simulation of the escape routes. First we used the hitherto existing evacuation plans and the geometry. In a second step and in close collaboration of all stakeholders, the evacuation concept as well as the evacuation time were improved iteratively. To be optimally prepared for the future, a new escape way was planned, built, and got included into the new safety concept.
The results proof that it was a good investment to create another escape way, because the bottlenecks are rectified and the visitors are able to leave the venue in a faster manner.
(Titel/Header) Image source: "schnelle Maid auf dem Biberacher Schützenfest 2012, Tübingen, Deutschland" by Tyresias. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0