Large-scale inspections are underway throughout the country. Shopping centers, entertainment complexes, malls, and cinemas. Fire safety rules must be strictly followed in places intended for gathering large crowds of people. Why are emergency exits closed and fire alarms aren't always functioning? And what needs to be done to force all without exception to correct violations immediately?
Vitaly Karmazin with the details.
- Count, Andrey.
- А minute, we're all dead.
Yekaterinburg. The shopping center emergency exit opens when there is no one left to save. The only way from the playground is through a small gate. A design feature will prevent rescue in an emergency situation.
"Young people, please, leave faster".
A training evacuation in Krasnodar showed the same thing.
"It's an emergency exit, it must be open. Knowing that there would be an inspection, they still haven't unlocked it".
There's no way to escape this mall in Rostov. The doors remain magnetically locked.
- Are you the only one who can unlock the exit?
- Nobody, unless the fire alarm is triggered.
In Birobidzhan, there was a power outage during an inspection. Smoke detectors are useless. The only hope is the staff.
- Do you know how to call the fire department?
- Yeah, 03.
- 03 is the ambulance.
The staff doesn't seem to understand why there are green figurines and red stickers on the walls. They don't know where the evacuation plan is. Sometimes, there's no plan.
- Do you know where the evacuation plan is?
- Nope.
- You haven't seen it?
- I haven't, and we came here with children.
Even if there is one, you still have to search for the exit. A mall in Blagoveshensk, kids' area on the second floor. The escape lies in a labyrinth of game tables and semi-dark halls.
- OK, where are we?
- I don't know and I have no idea how could one navigate through here.
Moscow. The exit halls of the mall are blocked. The only way to salvation lies through service areas.
"The walls are covered with plywood that will catch fire in a matter of seconds. Also, about several thousand rolls of toilet paper are stored here".
The same picture everywhere: wooden walls and dysfunctional hood fans. And then here's Rostov: the rusty smoke uptake didn't open after the alarm was triggered.
"Attention. Fire alarm".
The important question is how did those buildings become malls at all? It's easier to buy them than to build, for example, a shop of a bankrupt factory that's unfit for trade. They repair it and lease it out. The same thing all across the country. The former Chromatron factory used to make colored picture tubes. It became a mall in the 2000s. In 2017, an inspection was conducted that discovered multiple violations, including fire safety. There were several inspections afterward. They showed that the owner did nothing to eliminate those violations. Ultimately, the court ruled to close the mall for 90 days.
Businessmen complain that now they can't access their shops inside.
- As an entrepreneur, do you pay attention to fire safety?
- I'm sorry.
Customers are ready to suffer inconveniences for the sake of safety.
Valentina Lebedeva: "It's like a sauna there, I can barely breathe. There's no air conditioning here. All windows are closed, there's no ventilation here as well. All owners have been living abroad for a long time like in Kemerovo and come here only to collect the money."
The Sochi malls were also inspected.
- Dead end. Who opens the door?
- Anyone can open it and leave.
- But the door's usually clocked.
Special attention was paid to kids' areas. According to the current version, the fire in Zimnyaya Vishnya started in a dry pool. In Sochi mall, there are fire extinguishers near the rubber foam pit. However, they from 2010.
"It's good for 5 years. It's 2018 now".
It appears that standards, plans, and laws have all been developed. The only remaining thing is to finally begin to follow these simple, but vitally important rules.
Vitaly Karmazin, Veronika Bogma Artur Abdyukhanov, Sergey Yevdokimov, and Kirill Bortnikov Vesti.
