Dundrum Shopping Centre Smoke / Disgrace

twentyfour7

Hi,

Tonight, Saturday 23rd April there was an incident in Dundrum Shopping Centre while i was out with my partner watching a movie; this incident was handled in a very non-professional manner.
Upon the film's completion my partner and I left the cinema casually heading towards the main entrance to the cinema complex. No notification of a fire alert was given although 2 fire brigade trucks had arrived on-site at the cinema and appeared to have been working away for at least 5 minutes... who knows maybe allot longer. This would indicate that at the very least 15 minutes had passed since the fire was first reported..... and yet hundreds of people were still seating unawares at various viewings within the cinema complex. Slightly concerned i felt the urge to get us as far away from the centre straight away. We approaced the entrance to the shopping centre to heading for the Car Park (Green Car Park Level -3) to be only met by almost 100 people congregated outside the 1 Doorway leading down to the carpark. Using basic intelect i assumed that the cause of this delay was something to do with the 2 Fire Trucks out front so proceeded to wait around with my partner and left the "professionals" do their jobs. As the minutes passed by and the numbers of people surrounding the entrance increased i approached the only security guard available who was telling people to relax, there was some smoke found rising into the cinema area but he couldn't give any more information...There was very little in the way of organisation and people proceeded to walk passed the security guard who gave the ocassional passer a quick "Don't go down there , come back... Sir" ; The lack of asecertion in his voice meant he was quickly ignored and flocks of people proceed down through the shopping centre in the hope of finding an alternative way down to pickup their cars.
Without boring anyone any further, my main rant is that no direct notification was given to pedestrians to let them know there is an issue, how hard is it to get onto the intercom system and advise that "We have an issue in the carpark, Do not attempt to collect your car, please be patient, we are doing everything we can to resolve the situation" ---- This is a basic task which would have saved allot of panic in my opinion. Approx 10 minutes later it appeared that the doors were back open and flocks of people headed on down towards the car park... i decided to wait around, my partner being 7 1/2 months pregnant detered me from walking down to a possible inferno as no update was given to anyone.... i found it suprising how so many people would rush straight on down without having a clue what could lay ahead of them..
I waited a further 5 minutes, approced the flustered security guard and asked if all car parks were open...being advised yes i proceeded down towards the 1 x lift and stairs to approx 500 car park spaces to meet up with the 100 + people around the corner... a queue for three flights of stairs awaited the eger instead of a safe exit from the situation... seeing this i immediately said "F**k that" and walked back through a mosh pit of people and walked straight out of the centre aiming to get a taxi home and worry about collecting the car on Sunday.. While walking back towards a road just of Dundrum mainstreet i noticed that a slow movement of cars were leaving one of the entrances so we both decided to walk down this way to find our car and get home. To my utter disgust and disbelief i saw why the movement was so slow..... The massive queue was down to the fact that the staff were still taking parking tickets and the barriers were all down forcing people to produce there ticket.... I overheard staff members of Dundrum being abused... people were shouting "Open the bloody gates.... I was told i wouldn't need my ticket" etc etc... The gates remained closed and only opened for persons with a valid ticket or a loud enough bark!!!
To end this here i managed to find my car 5 minutes later and got out probably another 15 minutes after that!
Apologies if this is a bit all over the place but its late and i wanted to get it out there before i forgot about anything...

This is supposed to be the largest complex in Europe..... This was most likely a minor issues and ended up a mess... One can only imagine what would happen if there was a serious fire!!!
Was anyone else there? Any comments?

BR
Russ

BrianD

Mountain out of a molehole me thinks.

BTW anyone know why construction has stopped on the section beside the entrance you use to go to and from the Ballaly tram stop?

marilynM

I disagree, I don't think it's a mountain out of a molehill, to be honest. I think it's a case of poor organisation and a lack of training when it comes to the staff.

TempestSabre

In a serious fire it would have been a disaster.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Interestingly, people seemed more worried about thir cars...

Doesn't exactly warrant putting the word 'inferno' in the thread title. Christ, I'm 5 mins walk from the place and you nearly had me looking out the windows!

Red Alert

AFAIK the fire alarm and PA system in the centre are interlinked. As soon as a fire's detected it should automatically direct everyone to the nearest exit.

twentyfour7

Slightly more relaxed today but still feel that staff need to be properly trained for future incidents... The word "inferno" was over the top i guess.. Had the film starring Steve McQueen in my head "Inferno".
Maybe you needed to see it to get a better grasp of how it was handled.... as i'm not usually one to bother going on a rant!

Russ

TempestSabre

Doesn't matter if its a drill, or whatever. The fire procedure should work. Obviously it doesn't. Know your exits.

eth0_

That is very dodgy, if there's a fire reported then the barriers should automatically go up, they shouldn't be worrying about taking peoples tickets!

Have you reported this to the right people? The health and safety authority for example?

MorningStar

I think it really is over the top in detail and not that much to complain about. It sounds like the staff need further training but really the people that were the problem.

chuckles30

I would expect all such complex's to have a proper evacuation plan in the event of an emergency. It's just not good enough that staff are not properly trained. If anything serious was to happen, it would be chaos.

LegacyUser

Doesn't surprise me in the least.
The carpark itself is an accident waiting to happen!! People speeding up ramps and pedestrians walking out in front of cars etc.

I saw some really dangerous stuff in there .. wouldn't park my car in there again. It would be ohhh too easy to knock a child, adult or crash into a speeding car. Badly laid out carpark.

kippy

In fairness, I dont think this is over the top at all.
What would we be saying if there was a serious incident in the center and people had been killed or injured-it doesnt take much to cause carnage in place like this.
We would be outraged.....

Granted some of the details are over the top but it is from "minor" incidents like that that holes in emergency procedures are found and should be noted and improved upon.
Luckily on this occassion it appeared that there was no need for concern but surely better communication and procedures should be in place in such a large complex in order to allay the fears of the masses.

Something that should-in my opinion be at least reported to the people who manage the complex and if you get nowhere possibly report it to the health and safety authority.
Kippy