Shopping Tijuca Reopens Two Weeks After Deadly Fire as Police Probe Evacuation Delays

Overview

• The mall reopened at 10 a.m. on January 16 after a subprefeitura inspection, while the subsoil and a section of the first floor remain interdicted by Defesa Civil.
• Security footage shows the building’s evacuation began about 11 minutes after the first internal alert, with elevators still running and some customers entering 30–40 minutes after the fire started.
• Two employees died in the incident: brigadista Emellyn Silva Aguiar Menezes, whose cause of death was asphyxia, and security supervisor Anderson Aguiar, who repeatedly attempted rescues before dying at the hospital.
• Police are reviewing procedures, access control, and equipment performance as CM Couto says cylinders were checked in October and under three years old, while colleagues and family cite concerns about oxygen supply and masks.
• Authorities say the blaze began around 18:04 in the Bellart store in the subsoil with about 7,000 people in the complex, and report damage to hydrants and sprinklers that must be repaired before full reopening.