Reports of ‘fire’ at mall

Reports of a fire at the East Point Shopping Centre next to the East Rand Mall sparked an emergency evacuation, which reportedly saw patrons and staff running helter-skelter to escape a potential major blaze.

Within a matter of minutes, reports of a fire at the shopping centre started to circulate on social media.
However, when Boksburg Advertiser arrived at the scene it appeared that the “fire” had in fact been a spark and didn’t turn into a major blaze as purported by social media posts.

While the East Point management has not yet responded to our request for information, patrons and staff members who were at the facility during the incident confirmed the evacuation, saying there was a spark from one of the lights at the entrance of the shopping centre.

It apparently happened as soon as the power came back after load-shedding at around midday.
One irate patron said that panic-stricken people from upstairs started throwing their belongings towards the crowd and some of the items almost injured his wife, as they were exiting the building.
A staff member at one of the grocery stores said while panic was clearly spread through some people shouting ‘fire’, she didn’t panic because she could not see fire or smoke in the building.

In response to the social media reports with regards to the said fire, the East Rand Mall posted on its Facebook page saying: “There was no fire at East Rand Mall, we were assisting our neighbouring mall, East Point Shopping Centre, with an emergency evacuation. All is good on both sides.”
DEMS spokesperson, William Ntladi, was not available to comment on the matter.

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