Echoes from Kemerovo: the safest shopping malls in Volgograd

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

At the end of March 2018, a terrible tragedy shook Russia. In the city of Kemerovo, a fire broke out in the shopping center "Winter Cherry". The building burned to the ground, killing sixty people, including forty-one children. This fire became the second largest fire in modern national history. So far, the point in this matter has not yet been put, but what happened showed the disregard of both businessmen and departments for human lives.

After what happened in the country, mass checks began, inspections raided many shopping centers in Volgograd. As a result, many establishments were closed - multiple violations of fire safety were revealed there. Let's figure out which shopping centers of the hero city are the safest.

Echoes of the Kemerovo tragedy

Emergency in Kemerovo shocked many. People have becomebe afraid to go to shopping centers and cinemas, enduring a terrible tragedy. The number of visitors to the shopping center in late March - early April has decreased markedly. And after the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the prosecutor's office initiated a series of inspections, it turned out that almost every second shopping center does not comply with fire safety rules. That is, if something happened, the tragedy of Kemerovo could be repeated in Volgograd, where there are a lot of shopping centers.

Many of them have been closed indefinitely until all violations are fixed. Almost all after some time began to function again. But the local sports palace and the exhibition complex are still sealed - it is simply dangerous to be there. It is worth striking a match, and everything will blaze like poplar fluff.

First went

The first closed shopping center in Volgograd turned out to be "Seven Stars" in the Traktorozavodsky district. Former "Diamant" was checked on March 29th. A mock evacuation of visitors and staff was carried out, which was quite successful. Everything else was bad. Three of the four cinema halls of the complex were not equipped with fire alarms. In the fourth it was, but did not function. The warning system installed in the corridors would have worked in the event of an emergency, but during a movie show it would have been difficult to hear because of the soundproofing. The mall's fire hydrants were last checked over a year ago, although this must be done at least once every six months. The evacuation exits turned out to be locked and cluttered after one. In total, more than 70 violations were found and "Sevenstars" sealed.

Only after almost a month, the doors of the shopping center reopened. The owner tried to appeal the court decision almost immediately and even provided paperwork stating that all the problems were fixed. In fact, it turned out to be a lie printed on the sheets. When everything was eliminated, "Seven Stars" started working again.

Chain reaction

Inspectors found violations in every second public leisure facility of the townspeople. Following the decision of the court in Volgograd closed:

• shopping centers "KinderMall", "Diamond on Komsomolskaya", "Soviet", "Green Ring";
• restaurant "Aquarius";
• shopping and office center SVL;
• market "China Town";
• trampoline centers "Sky" and "Gravity";
• Kinomax and Cinema Park cinemas.

Then they sealed the doors of the largest concert venues - the expo center and the sports palace.

Identified violations were almost the same everywhere. Stores in shopping malls in Volgograd suffered huge losses, some closed or moved to safer premises.

Safe Places

Not all shopping centers in Volgograd worked in violation of fire laws. Thus, the Pyramida shopping and entertainment center, which is located near the Central Embankment, continued to function as usual. Everything was in order there - at every emergency exitthere were keys, the warning system worked properly, and numerous identification marks indicated the path to evacuation.

The shops of the Voroshilovsky shopping center in Volgograd were also not stressed by the possible closure. However, as well as the tenants of "KomsoMall", "Watercolors" and one of the oldest, but still safe shopping center "Park House".

In the "torchushka" (Voroshilovsky shopping center) emergency exits are located every 20-30 meters. "KomsoMoll" and "Watercolors" have an automatic fire extinguishing system, and if the temperature reaches 54 degrees, water begins to spray from the ceiling under pressure. There is nothing like that in Europe City Mall and Park House, but in the event of an emergency, the chances of getting out of there alive are extremely high - there are emergency exits, the warning system is functioning properly.

Results

Even after the shopping malls that were closed for troubleshooting were back in operation, the degree of public confidence in them has dropped markedly. For several months the number of visitors was extremely low. At present, the fears of the people have subsided, and everything has returned to normal.

But the closure of the two largest concert venues came back to haunt the organizers of the performances of visiting stars - it resulted in a pretty penny for them. Many events were forced to be moved to other venues or canceled altogether.