A RETAILER failed to evacuate Galleria Shopping Centre despite a fire alarm warning set off by a fire in one of the upstairs public toilets last weekend.
It came two years after two people died at the centre following an explosion that resulted in EnergySafety issuing additional safety measures for high voltage switches involved in fires.
A fire alarm was set off about 8.30am on August 12, with businesses evacuated before returning about 8.45am.
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READ NOWThe Eastern Reporter spoke to nine businesses today and six said they evacuated the centre while three said a security guard told them to leave after they failed to hear the alarm.
A Galleria Shopping Centre spokeswoman said on the day management was made aware of a small fire in one of the bathrooms on level one.
“As a precaution, this section of centre was cordoned off and evacuated,” she said.
“As always, the safety and wellbeing of our customers, retailers, team members and the wider community is of paramount importance to us and at no point was anyone at risk.
“Following advice from emergency services, this section of Galleria reopened within an hour.”
Prouds store manager Hayley Elliot said by the time a security guard notified the store to evacuate the building people had started to come back inside.
“We did not hear a fire alarm… all my staff were here and we just stayed inside,” she said.
“We didn’t need to evacuate; it was business as usual.”
However, Jamaica Blue owner Jenny Dang said her staff and customers were evacuated from the building with no issues.
“A security guard just came up to us and said there was a fire upstairs,” she said.
“We evacuated (the building) for 15 minutes.”
Specsavers co-owner Bradley Scott said his staff were in a meeting when they heard alarms go off and left shortly after.
In June, Bayswater council sought an independent review of a report on pedestrian flow during emergencies because of pop-up kiosks at the centre.