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Store staff evacuated after HVAC smoke at Vans in Capitol Mall; employee says sprinklers did not activate
Summary
Lucky Backus, assistant store manager at Vans, said an HVAC unit at the Capitol Mall store caught fire, producing smoke that prompted an evacuation and an emergency response of multiple fire and medical units.
Lucky Backus, assistant store manager at the Vans location in Capitol Mall, said an HVAC unit in the mall caught fire and filled the store with smoke, prompting an evacuation and an emergency response.
On the Auburn Omni Podcast, Backus recounted that mall maintenance identified the issue and staff evacuated merchandise and customers. “Our HVAC system caught fire, and it was pushing smoke into the store,” Backus said. She added that the sprinkler system did not activate and that nobody pulled the store’s fire alarm; security and maintenance personnel directed the response.
Backus said the emergency response included four fire trucks, three medic units and police officers. She said crews were able to contain the problem quickly and that the situation “could have been so bad” if the smoke had spread further.
The podcast did not report injuries or a formal incident report; Backus described staff actions and the visible emergency response but did not provide an official statement from mall management or the responding agencies.
