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Thousands of shoppers had come to the mall for the start of the holiday shopping season. Although the Friday after Thanksgiving was always busy, the shopping center manager believed the day would be the busiest yet. She gazed down from her office window at the huge Christmas display in the magnificent center of the five-level center. The 38-foot decorated tree looked fabulous. Sale racks were set up around the perimeter of the court, and every level of the mall was alive with eager shoppers and Christmas music.
Out of the corner of her eye, the manager suddenly noticed a flash of light. The tree had caught fire, and thick smoke was quickly flooding the top level of the mall. Shoppers pointed in horror as burning branches fell and ignited other parts of the display and adjacent merchandise racks. In a matter of seconds, the entire tree and most of the center court were burning.
No emergency plan had been devised for the 825,000-sq.-ft. center. Congestion slowed the escape of screaming shoppers; many were trampled by the panicked crowd. The entire court filled with thick black smoke, which made breathing difficult and clear vision impossible. Smoke seemed to spread in every direction.
The tree then toppled with a loud crash, and burning debris ignited stores surrounding the court. Alarms sounded, and the automatic sprinkler system sprayed the center court. Unfortunately, the fire's intensity was more than the sprinklers could handle. Fire spread rapidly through stores stocked for the holidays. Shoppers searching through the thick smoke for obscured exits were quickly overcome.
Four hours and half a complex later, the fire was finally extinguished. The task of locating and identifying victims took days.
Although fictional, this horrifying scenario could become the lead story in tomorrow's evening news. Because of the size of modern shopping centers and the number of potential victims, a mall fire (or other disaster) could easily become a catastrophe.
Most people consider the mall to be a safe environment, yet shopping centers contain more hazards than one might imagine. If not controlled through a combination of safe design and diligent, aggressive safety management, such hazards can be deadly.
MALLS: HISTORY AND GROWING SIZE
The first shopping centers, constructed in the 1950s, consisted of a...