12 juillet, 2022 • 3 min read

Responding in a Time of Crisis

In the early hours of June 30^th, one of our clients suffered a fire at a retail store. Over the course of several hours, nearly 50 firefighters battled the blaze, which sent a plume of black smoke across many neighbouring communities.

Thankfully, no injuries or missing persons were reported. We’re thankful and proud of the actions of one of our tactical guards, Cherian, who was working at the location that night.

Quick Thinking and Training

The store was getting ready for the evening closure at 10pm on the night of June 29^th. Staff were going about their usual end of shift processes, when store staff informed our tactical guard that a fire had broken out in the basement of the building. As the store was still open, Cherian’s quick thinking and training helped prevent a bad situation from becoming catastrophic.

Cherian acted calmly and professionally under immense pressure, grabbing a fire extinguisher and accompanying the member of staff to the basement in an attempt to extinguish the blaze. Cherian’s assessment was that the fire was too big to put out, and had already spread to the household appliances section of the store. After quickly checking there were no customers on the basement level, Cherian and store staff proceeded to evacuate customers from the main floor.

During their search, they found a member of staff in the staff room, which was located on the second floor. By now, the fire and smoke had spread throughout the building. Luckily, they were able to evacuate this member of staff. By this point, the Fire Department had arrived on scene, and everyone had managed to make it out of the store unharmed.

Performing Above and Beyond

We couldn’t be prouder of how Cherian acted during this highly stressful situation. It serves to highlight the importance of comprehensive training for security staff, giving them the confidence to take charge in emergency situations.

“We wish to thank him for his actions in ensuring customers and staff left the building safely,” said a representative of our client.

“We also appreciated him staying behind past his shift time; this is the second incident of fire where Blackbird Security staff have shown great composure and assistance. We appreciate the professionalism brought to the table.”

Retail Security – Blackbird is Here to Help

Ready to upgrade your security solutions ahead of a busy fall and Holiday season? Why not work with Canada’s best security company? If you’re interested in upgrading your security services, we’d love to hear from you. We offer the following range of services to clients across Canada: