British zoo fire evacuations

AdrianW1963

AdrianW1963

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
When I worked at a very large shopping complex we had to do a FULL fire evacuation of the site this entailed the closure of ALL shops/outlets and ALL staff/customers being evacuated to the fire points outside and at the far end of the car parks, some roads were closed and others where maned to the point as only emergency vehicles were allowed through onto the complex.

My question is quite clear do Zoological collection of any kind have to do full site fire evacuations to satisfy their insurances policies and if not do you think that collections should have to do this practise nowadays with the prospect of today’s terror tendencies.

I am a little bemused because I was thinking what would happen if a fire or any other incident happen requiring a full site evacuation what would happen and where are the fire points around any collection as I have not seen these notices (but that may just be me) any were.

Not having ago at any collection just want peoples thoughts on this matter
 
AdrianW1963 said:
When I worked at a very large shopping complex we had to do a FULL fire evacuation of the site this entailed the closure of ALL shops/outlets and ALL staff/customers being evacuated to the fire points outside and at the far end of the car parks, some roads were closed and others where maned to the point as only emergency vehicles were allowed through onto the complex.
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How long ago was this and which shopping centre was it? I'm struggling to imagine this happening with a large shopping centre nowadays -(closed) time is (lost) money.

Also, I can't see a fire being a significant threat to visitors at a zoo, plenty of directions to run in and little to catch fire (away from animal houses).

Terrorism? Though the media loves it and splashes it everywhere statistically there's probably more chance of dying driving to a venue than being hurt by terrorists when you get there. As someone once said, a life lived in fear is a life half lived.
 
The shopping centre was Merry Hill and the last evacuation was 3 months ago as it stipulates in the insurance policy.

I am asking about safety at zoos/parks or are we ok with the staff not being fully trained.

It's ok doing a drill when the collection is empty but when it has visitors in then it's a different matter my past experience proves gives me general knowledge of this matter.
 
Not on the topic of zoos but I thought I would point out that I worked in retail for a large company and fire drills were carried out twice a year and would involve staff and customers. Granted it's not the same as a fire drill in Merry Hill but I imagine the insurance policy would be the same, to whit at least one staff drill and one full drill per year.

In regards to zoos I guess it depends on the establishment. For example somewhere like Shaldon could be wiped out by a fire quite easily but somewhere like Chester could probably isolate the area whilst normal zoo going could continue on the other side of Flag Lane. This is pure speculation of course but I do see a problem in comparing different zoos emergency plans, it's just like comparing apples and oranges again.
 
Wow! I've led a sheltered life -I've never experienced or heard or one of these "live drills" before (I'd prefer mine in zoos:)). Maybe because they're carried out on weekdays to reduce disruption to shoppers? -in which case I wonder how useful they really are when compared to conditions on a busy Saturday.

I'm sure all staff are fully trained/drilled to deal with animal escapes and general health and safety (which I expect would include procedures in a fire situation). Given a lot of zoos are really open and, to some extent, park-like I wonder if the requirement to do live drills (with visitors) is as stringent as a labyrinthine indoor shopping centre (and whether it really needs to be)?
 
I was at Paignton earlier this year when they had an escaped animal drill. We were warned about it on the way in, told there'd be a siren and we should do whatever we were asked to do. When it happened, we were at the Tur enclosure, which is off the beaten track, and there was nobody else around. We eventually wandered back to the giraffe house which was just being unlocked and a couple of visitors were being let out. We told a member of staff that we'd been 'off the radar' and she was going to report it, so they learned something, which is presumably part of the point of the exercise.
 
I once worked in a cinema and although we regularly had fire drills they never involved customers, staff paid the played of customers.
 
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