COLUMBUS, Ohio - City firefighters are worried that smoke machines and lighting effects might confuse fire spotters looking for truly life-threatening scares at a haunted house.

        The haunted house at the Ohio State Fair doesn't have the sprinklers or automated alarm system required by the city code, firefighters said.

        The attraction's owner, Scarefactory, said it had a state-approved safety plan, but still agreed to pay the $3,000 overtime cost to keep a fire lieutenant at the haunted house from 8 p.m. to midnight.

        “We're trying to do the best job we can,” David Fachman, president of the Columbus company, told the Columbus Dispatch for a Saturday story. “I hope everything is worked out.”

        The city will pay about $38,000 to station four firefighters at the 10,000-square-foot Creepy Castle during the day and early evening for the fair's 17-day run. The cost does not represent overtime pay.

        Scarefactory officials thought they solved the problem last month in a compromise with state fire officials. Employees said they would perch above the 8-foot-high maze with fire extinguishers and watch for problems.

        State Fire Marshal Robert Rielage approved the plan, but it didn't appease city firefighters. They said fire spotters couldn't see the whole maze.

        “If anything catches on fire, it would produce large amounts of smoke,” said fire Capt. Wesley Fullen, “and smoke kills people.”

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