AUDIENCE members including a 13-week-old baby were lucky to escape without major injuries after two false ceilings at Bathurst’s Metro Cinemas collapsed due to a torrential storm that hit the city yesterday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A total of 46 moviegoers dived for cover between the rows of seats as the gyprock ceiling came crashing down in cinemas four and five around 1pm.
Some people were trapped between the seats under the ceiling but were quickly found by firefighters using thermal imaging cameras.
“Crews went in using our specialised thermal imagery cameras which helped locate the people who were trapped under the gyprock ceiling,” duty commander Scott Rainnie said.
“There were numerous people who were assisted out by police, fire, ambulance and SES services.
“The thermal imagery cameras were crucial in locating these people quickly as we were able to see their body heat.”
Moments before, Janet Bingham had left cinema five to tell staff water was gushing through the roof. When she returned there was barely enough time for her to protect herself.
“There were more than a few drops coming in - it was like a little waterfall,” she said. “I’d actually left the cinema to tell someone and when I came back in it sounded like hail, but it must have been the roof cracking.”
Sitting in the cinema, Felicity Baines tried to get out of the way of the falling debris, but suffered a cut to her lower back.
Ms Baines said in the moments after the roof collapsed everyone kept it together.
“It was actually quite calm, which was good. We had a little baby, just 13 weeks old, in our cinema, so everyone was concerned for the little one’s health,” she said.
“Luckily we saw it [the roof] a bit, so as it came down we just dived below the seats, but I still got a graze on my back.”
In response to the situation, the emergency services activated their incident plans, calling crews in from as far as Orange, Lithgow, Oberon and Parkes.
A total of 10 double paramedic crews arrived on the scene, including two air emergency helicopters which landed in the grounds of the Cathedral School.
Police closed off the street between William and George streets as rescue crews from the fire service, police and State Emergency Service (SES) arrived on the scene.
From the air, the building looked untouched, but on the inside, SES rescue officer Sue Dixon said it was very different.
“There is a lot of debris lying around in corridors and on seats. It is a bit of a mess,” she said. “When we entered you could see the suspended ceiling sitting on top of the seats and air-conditioning vents and storm channels on top of that.”
The cinema has been closed indefinitely.
