(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
August 07, 2018 - 4:45 PM
VERNON - Customers and employees of Village Green Centre mall began streaming out of the building late Tuesday afternoon after someone pulled a fire alarm.
At roughly 4:30 p.m. fire alarms sounded throughout the building and mall security began escorting everyone out.
Vernon Fire and Rescue Captain Colin Clarke says the evacuation came after someone pulled a fire alarm in Canadian Tire.
"The way the alarm system is there it took us a while to figure out where exactly it was pulled," Clarke says.
He says false alarms like this one aren't just an inconvenience for shoppers — they also needlessly tie up emergency resources. That's a problem if there's a real fire to attend at the same time.
"Especially at this time of year," Clarke says.
Patrons and employees were permitted to return inside just before 5 p.m., roughly half an hour later.
— This story was updated at 5 p.m. Aug. 7, 2018 to say the mall re-opened and again at 9:55 a.m. Aug. 8, 2018 to add comments from Captain Colin Clarke.
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