Brooklyn Heights Blog

Comment from BHMom
Time: September 12, 2009, 10:00 pm

Why does this website (and also that free Brooklyn Heights newspaper that seems related to the BH Blog somehow) insist on using cutesy, light-hearted titles for stories or blurbs about things that are really serious or frightening in nature? Repeated fires in a local movie theatre, muggings and assaults in the Police Blotter? What’s with that?

Comment from Claude Scales
Time: September 12, 2009, 10:56 pm

Had anyone been hurt or (God forbid) died in this incident, we would have treated it very differently.

We have no relationship with The Brooklyn Paper beyond sometimes citing their articles, as they sometimes cite ours.

Comment from CobbleHiller
Time: September 12, 2009, 11:39 pm

I was watching District 9 when this happened. Luckily I was in the basement and only had to go up one flight of escalator but Ican’t imagine being on the top floor and having to run down to the first floor

Comment from The Where
Time: September 13, 2009, 12:18 am

Bh mom - lay off the similac and move to park slope

Comment from WillowtownCop
Time: September 13, 2009, 12:31 am

As long as no one got hurt, it would not bother me at all if that thing burned to the ground. Have you seen the crowds that place attracts? Further proof that blockbuster pop movies are for people too stupid to read books.

Comment from bornhere
Time: September 13, 2009, 1:00 am

Really, BHmom, you need to take a knee, as they say. The first story about the earlier fire, “Fire in a Crowded Theater,” was not in the least “cutesy.” There were minor health issues as a result of that popcorn maker gone awry, and the article reflected the more serious nature of it. The headline and story for this event were, I think, perfect in tone — there is even “fortunately, everyone inside managed to get out safely… .” I, too, am a BH Mom, but if I were to have taught my child (as a young’un) that ANY potentially serious, happily resolved event were worthy of what-might-have-been clothes-rending and wailing, my kid would be more cuckoo than he already is. How about acknowledging how good it is that this sort of headline and story can be written, that nothing happened, and that this is little more than another nonevent in the life of that crappy theater? (And, may I add, nice pic of the firefighter in silhouette.)

Comment from AEB
Time: September 13, 2009, 7:40 am

Head is borderline inappropriate.

The issue involves the reflexive response to seeing the word fire in a head–for most, the word connotes/denotes danger, potential harm.

Until this assumption is countered by the facts in the text (and even after), the reader is left with an impression of editorial frivolousness.

Comment from ABC
Time: September 13, 2009, 7:55 am

I’m not sure BHmom was asking for clothes-rending and wailing.

Sounds terrifying, especially for the people trying to get down from the upper levels thru that smoke. Wouldn’t be a “non-event” to me.

Comment from peppermint
Time: September 13, 2009, 8:26 am

“Have you seen the crowds that place attracts? Further proof that blockbuster pop movies are for people too stupid to read books.” Willowtowncop, I hope you’re joking. How can you tell if someone doesn’t read books by just walking by them on the street? Furthermore, who’s to judge that just because you read/don’t read you are smart/stupid? There are many implications that your comment has that I won’t bother to address in hopes that you are just trying to stir the pot.

Comment from PB
Time: September 13, 2009, 8:58 am

Every time I go to that theater I wonder about how I would get out of the upper floors if there was a fire. The escalators are so narrow, the landings very small. I am sure there are other FIRE exits that are marked to code, but maybe more can be done to assure that moviegoers know where the exits are. Perhaps even a video before the show to replace one of the adverts they always play where the popcorn flies off the screen. Or even just an announcement by the staff.
I honestly think it is a tragedy waiting to happen.

Comment from nabeguy
Time: September 13, 2009, 9:04 am

While this theater may be a magnet for certain people, articles about this theater seem to be a magnet for the most intolerant among us. It’s a nimby lightning rod.
BHmom, blotter reporting is the lowest rung on the journalism ladder. As such, boredom towards the task may lead a reporter to try to inject a twist to it, appropriate or not….it’s nothing compared to the gallows humor that cops employ to gird themselves against the daily grind.

Comment from Remiel
Time: September 13, 2009, 6:31 pm

I saw this fire as it was just getting started. It was indeed a popcorn machine, belching flames. The odd thing was watching patrons and employees running away from the (not very big) blaze… straight past the fire extinguisher.

I assumed the fire extinguisher cabinet must be empty, until I opened it up and sure enough, there was a full unit sitting right in there. I was actually carrying the extinguisher over to the fire myself (we wanted to see our movie!), when I saw a “manager-in-a-suit”-looking guy moving toward the fire. I shoved the fire extinguisher at him, and he took it, but then he just went over to the fire and watched as the sprinklers came on.

Comment from T.K. Small
Time: September 13, 2009, 6:54 pm

Without commenting on the patrons of the movie theater, that place is a disaster! I have been stuck in there at least three times and had to call the fire department for assistance. The worst time was for four hours and they wanted me to leave my power wheelchair on the 13th floor and take me to the hospital. Finally I convinced the fire department to carry me and my chair down the entire way after it was discovered that the theater hadn’t even called the elevator repair company. Needless to say it was a scary experience.

Comment from John
Time: September 13, 2009, 7:16 pm

DEATH TRAP !!!

Comment from x
Time: September 13, 2009, 7:19 pm

Someone should train their staff to use a fire extinguisher before something like this happens again and kills someone. P-A-S-S

Comment from bklyn20
Time: September 14, 2009, 5:22 pm

I guess they’ve been too busy bag-searching to check on the popcorn machine. That’s my new alibi — all the popcorn is burned, so we all have to bring food in! Interestingly, they don’t do searches in Manhatattan, and they don’t do fires, either.