We’re not prepared for an emergency
An alarm went off at Queen Street bus station and the Uptown shopping centre, and nobody knew what to do. That’s not good.
As is my wont, I was waiting for a bus at Queen St bus station, in the basement of Uptown (formerly the Myer Centre), not long before 5pm on Tuesday, January 7.
Suddenly, a siren started blaring and a disembodied voice came over the PA system saying loudly and firmly, and over and over again, that there was an emergency, and we should evacuate and follow instructions.
And that was it. There were no details about what was going on and no instructions to follow, apart to evacuate. People were puzzled, some stood looking stunned, others drifted off, presumably back into the bowels of the shopping centre.
I looked around and saw no sign of fire or other incident in the subterranean busway and determined that if there was any danger, it was probably behind me in the shopping centre, so heading off in that direction didn’t make sense.
As I was at the bus stop closest to the exit out on to North Quay/ William Street and the Victoria Bridge, I decided that was probably the best way to leave the area. But access was blocked by closed doors that can only be operated externally by bus drivers. If there was a fire behind me, I would’ve been trapped.
(Yes, I do appreciate that it is normally a very bad idea to walk or run out on to a busway, but if the alternative is being caught up in a fire, then I want the opportunity to take my chances.)
Luckily, my moment of uniformed indecision coincided with the arrival of my bus. The driver, who heard the alarm as he alighted, shrugged, opened the doors, beckoned me and the few other passengers who hadn’t already left the area on to the bus, and we drove off.
Very soon his two-way radio crackled alive with warnings to drivers not to enter the King George Square or Queen St stations and for those approaching Queen St to divert on to William Street rather than enter the tunnel.
The controller did not know the nature of the incident, which he announced to be over by the time my bus reached the Gabba.
I assume hundreds of commuters and shoppers were affected by what I can only assume was a false alarm. If there was any media coverage explaining what had gone on, I missed it. (A crawl back through Translink announcements on X reveals only a warning of delays on Victoria Bridge in both directions due to “congestion”.)
But what if it had been a real emergency? What if, in the absence of specific information, those people had dutifully exited into harm’s way?
I hope this is being treated as a wake-up call that better systems need to be put in place.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie and other relevant authorities should order a thorough investigation into this incident and enact an audit of fire-safety and emergency response planning for all public places.
Had this been a real fire — or worse — confusion among people about how to react to the unclear messaging would have cost lives.
Let’s be prepared.