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Minor injuries, major horror, in Court Street multiplex fire

By Robert Voris
for The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Robert Voris
Firefighters evacuate the movie theater on Court and State streets Tuesday.

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At long last, it was the right time to yell “Fire” in a crowded movie house as the United Artists multiplex on Court Street was briefly consumed by smoke during a crowded afternoon screening on Tuesday.

Chaos engulfed the movie theater shortly after 2 pm, as patrons, some covering their mouths, had to find their own way to the smoky lobby of the Bruce Ratner–owned 12-screen theater at State Street in Downtown.

Brooklyn Conservatory

Eight minor injuries, mostly from smoke inhalation, were reported in the fire, which apparently started in the popcorn maker and quickly forced the evacuation of all 11 floors of the building.

Alison Katz and her friend Melissa Garry were watching “The Ugly Truth” in a sixth-floor theater when the fire started.

They said they did not hear the alarm, but learned of the fire when “one of the ushers finally turned on the light, rushed in and told us to get out,” Katz said.

“But no one was leading us, so we just went down the escalators,” she added.

“By the third floor, we could see the smoke,” Garry added. “And all the way through the lobby, you could barely see a thing. I didn’t even see the fire.”

Eight fire units rushed to the scene and brought the blaze under control quickly.

The cinema was open for business almost as usual on Wednesday, with moviegoers flocking to first-run hits, but the main-floor concessions area still bearing the scars of Tuesday’s blaze.

One of the two popcorn makers was, indeed, out of commission.

The movie theater was last in the news earlier this year when owner Ratner put it on the market, though he did not find a buyer.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group

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Reader Feedback

Clifford Philogene from Canarsie says:
I was present during the fire and I would like to say that the evacuation was very unorganized. The Ushers seemed unprepared and lacked training for emergency evacuations. At first we were told to take the stairs down and then were told to go back up from the second floor to the third and take the escalators. I thought this was ridiculous. I know escalators are not safe when there is a fire. But I'm grateful to have come out of that with out a scratch. I just hope that my date and I didn't inhale enough smoke to have any problems. I covered my mouth and kept low. What bad luck; it was my first date ever lol.
Aug. 5, 2009, 12:41 am
Liz from carroll gardens says:
We had a similar experience. My children and I were in theater 9 on the 7th floor. The usher told us to evacuate, then left. We followed him to the escalators, one flight down the escalators stopped and smoke was rising from below. We back tracked into an emergency stairway only to reach the bottom which didn't lead to the street, but to the smokey lobby. We remained there (about 80 people)for some time until a firefighter joined us and finally told us to stay put, the lobby was being cleared of smoke and water. The theater certainly lacked an emergency procedure and any communication would have been appreciated.
Aug. 5, 2009, 11:53 am
elizabeth from Columbia Waterfront says:
I was in the theatre at the time of the fire, we were there seeing G-Force. The only way we knew anything was the matter was that the movie stopped at there was a dim light flickering and a very low tone alarm. There needed to be a message over the intercom telling people to vacate.
No representatives from the theatre came into the theatre,which was filled with children and people were confused as to whether or leave or not. One lady (not an employee) came in to tell everyone to stay in the theatre, that it was just a false alarm,then came back in telling everyone to leave. Thank goodness everyone was ok. This was handled terribly and the management was not trained properly on how to handle such an emergency. I am never taking my kids there again.
Update: I called Regal HQ and left a message for the head of Customer Relations and my phonecall was not returned.
Aug. 5, 2009, 8:26 pm
CE from Fort Greene says:
This Ratner-developed theater has not been well-run since its opening. It is not a surprise that the employees were disorganized in an emergency.
Aug. 6, 2009, 10:33 am
jim from long island says:
I work in Brooklyn and had time for a long lunch so i went to see Funny People at 1:00 in theatre 12 on the 11th floor. At 3:10 i heard an alarm but assumed it was a false alarm. I definately made an ass out of me by ignoring the alarm. From now on i will be running out of buildings when i hear alarms. At 3:15 the lights came on and at 3:17 an out of breath employee came in the theatre to say we needed to leave due to fire. I ran out of there down the narrow escalater to the 10th floor and than another employee directed me to the emergency stairway. I went down 6 or 7 flights in about 2 minutes but when i got down to the 3rd or 4th floor there were dozens (if not hundreds) of people walking up the stairs or just standing there (including groups of campers). I left the emergency stairway to the main area to go down the escalaters and was met with extreamly thick noxious smoke. I found my way down to the 3rd floor main area where the smoke was much worse. I could barely see in front of me or breath. People were screaming and others were choking. I tried to make my way down the escalater to level 1 and a 1/2 but was quickly told to go back up the escalater by a fireman. Later we were allowed down the escalater. As i descended the smoke was unbearable. I thought i was going to die. I obviously got out. one of the worst days of my life
Aug. 6, 2009, 8:51 pm
Charles from Red Hook says:
Didn't Ratner try to sell this thing recently? Isn't he pretty much bankrupt? I think I smell Jewish Lightning.
Aug. 7, 2009, 1:30 am

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