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Fog machine at art installation prompts false fire alarms

A Winter Landscape Cradling Bits of Sparkle, by artist Jennifer Wen Ma, uses a fog machine to "make people feel like they’re on a cloudy mountaintop."

By Ben Hooper
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PITTSBURGH, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A fog machine at an outdoor art installation in downtown Pittsburgh, has led firefighters to be called to the scene, at least twice, for false alarms.

Renee Piechocki, director of the city's Office of Public Art, said the fire department's 11 a.m. Thursday visit to Market Square marked the second time firefighters had been called to the installation, titled A Winter Landscape Cradling Bits of Sparkle, by passersby who confused the machine's fog for smoke.

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"It's just a fog machine," Piechocki told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "People from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership will communicate with the fire department to make sure they're aware."

Piechocki said the installation by artist Jennifer Wen Ma, which features 125 mulched trees surrounded by a wooden path, uses the fog machine to "make people feel like they're on a cloudy mountaintop."

The installation is scheduled to remain until April 12.

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