Boulevard fire warning
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A resident has urged the Broome Boulevard Shopping Centre to lift its game on fire and safety protocol after an incident last month.
Ivan Davie was inside the centre around midday on March 21 when a fire alarm was activated.
He said the boulevard was reasonably full with customers because it was a Saturday.
Despite the alarm, Mr Davie said no one initially took any action but some stores eventually started closing their doors.
"After a few more minutes the alarm changed pitch," he said.
"A muffled sound could be heard but discussion between people I was near could not determine what it was other than it seemed to be a voice … it was unintelligible."
The shopper said it was not until then that some people began drifting out of the Woolworths store and a security employee started "running around."
Mr Davie said his concern was that there was no clear audible PA system instructing people to evacuate.
A shopping centre spokeswoman said a "full" evacuation of the centre was carried out by security and cleaning staff "as per warden training and in line with centre procedure".
"The fire brigade attended promptly, identified the situation as a false alarm and gave the all-clear," she said.
"Customers were allowed to return to the centre after the alarm had been cleared."
However, Mr Davie said the evacuation process was "totally disorganised".
"There was no LED-style written signage flashing and advising people to evacuate," he said.
"There was no evidence of designated, clearly identifiable persons acting as fire wardens directing people to leave.
"The alarms went on and nobody moved … in the event of a major fire spreading fast this could have been catastrophic.
"If they had those things in place, the clearance of the whole premises would have been very rapid."
Mr Davie, who spent 33 years working for WA Police mostly in the realm of emergency management, and now serves as the town representative on the Local Emergency Management Committee, said the issue would be raised at the next meeting.
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