Shopping Tijuca Reopens as Footage Raises Questions Over Fire Response

Overview

• The mall resumes operations Friday at 10 a.m., two weeks after a sublevel fire at the Bellart store that killed brigadista Emellyn Silva Aguiar Menezes and security supervisor Anderson Aguiar, with the sub-basement and part of the first floor still closed.
• Security-camera images reconstructed a minute-by-minute sequence, showing evacuation began about 11 minutes after the first internal alarm and at least one entrance stayed open until 7:03 p.m.
• Footage highlights Anderson repeatedly entering the store to fight the fire and attempt rescues, with hoses that appeared to lack pressure, before he was removed unconscious and later died at the hospital.
• Forensics found Emellyn died of asphyxia, and coworkers and her mother reported concerns about oxygen cylinders and masks, which the brigade company says were recently supervised and within service life with safety alerts.
• Civil Police are reviewing the videos and probing why clients and vehicles continued to access the site during the emergency, as well as the performance of firefighting systems and equipment.