Fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center: chronology of events, causes, consequences

In Kemerovo, on March 25, 2018, a fire broke out in the Winter Cherry shopping and entertainment center, which killed 60 people, 37 of whom were children. All the details are in the material of Izvestia.

Details of the incident

The fire started around 14:00 Moscow time. According to the investigation, the tragedy occurred due to a short circuit on the fourth floor of the complex. Gross violations of fire safety contributed to a large number of victims: protection systems did not work, evacuation routes were blocked.

When the fire started, the cartoon continued to be broadcast in the cinema hall. There was no alarm in the mall, and no one evacuated people. The audience in the front rows of the cinema began to leave when a man ran inside and shouted something. At the same time, the people in the back rows did not hear the warning — they began to evacuate only because others came out.

In addition to the lack of an appropriate alarm system, visitors could not get out due to the blocked evacuation exits. When going out into the corridor, many did not know where to go next.

The tragedy through the eyes of eyewitnesses

The mother of the deceased nine-year-old girl, Elena Teslenko, recalls that after the reconstruction of the shopping center, the shops were located in a chaotic manner. According to her, it was not impossible to find something in a panic situation.

"That day, my husband and daughter went, as usual, to play slot machines, but then for some reason changed their minds and decided to watch a cartoon in the cinema. We agreed to call at five in the evening, but my husband's phone was turned off. At first I didn't suspect anything was wrong, I decided to just go meet them. And then it was reported on the radio that the Winter Cherry was on fire. Arisha died with her dad in this movie theater," she said.

Leaving the cinema, Elena's husband and daughter accidentally turned to the evacuation exit, which turned out to be closed. During the identification, the woman found signs of a struggle on the man's body — the deceased's hands were bloodied, apparently while trying to break down the door. Elena was able to identify her daughter only by her legs and boots.

Negligence of the Kemerovo shopping mall management

According to the conclusion of fire technical experts, the cause of the fire was a leaking roof, which caused water to flow through high-voltage wires. It was clarified that the roof had been leaking for several weeks before the tragedy due to snowmelt. Although water penetrated into the boxes with wires, they did not fix the roof — the workers limited themselves to basins, which were placed on the floor of the children's playroom on the fourth floor.

In addition, it turned out that Yulia Bogdanova, the owner of the Winter Cherry, was aware of the problems with the fire protection system, but did not allocate funds for its repair. It was clarified that the woman saved about 7 million rubles.

What happened to the Winter Cherry after the fire

A few months after the incident, in May 2018, workers began demolishing the Winter Cherry shopping center. First, the building, which stood alone and was not affected by the fire, was dismantled, which housed a sauna, sauna and car wash. In July, workers began work on the building of the shopping and entertainment center itself.

The demolition process was completed in August of the same year. A year and a half after the tragedy, in September 2019, Angel Square was opened on the site of the demolished shopping center. The area of the territory was 2 hectares.

Sergey Tsivilev, ex-governor of the Kemerovo Region, who currently holds the post of Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, stressed that the authorities were pursuing the task of making not a place of mourning, but a place of strength and memory.

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