Sprinklers save Lido cinema

The importance of an efficient sprinkler system was proven on Tuesday night, when a fire that could have “engulfed” Hamilton’s Lido Cinema was snuffed out quickly leaving only water damage.

Nearly 150 patrons were evacuated when a fire that appeared to have started from a rubbish bin inside the men’s restroom triggered the smoke alarm system shortly after 7pm.

Fire Station officer Dennis Wells said sprinklers within the restroom had extinguished the fire quickly.

“It proves that sprinklers work,” he said.

“Without them the fire could have easily engulfed the cinema. Instead there looks to be a little water damage.”

Mr Wells would not speculate about the cause of the fire but said it was being treated as suspicious, with an investigation to follow.

All remaining screenings for the night were cancelled due to flooding but were to resume as scheduled yesterday.

Lido Cinema manager Stew Putwain said the cinema would refund tickets for the cancelled sessions.

The cinema is partway through hosting the Hamilton iteration of the New Zealand International Film Festival and film festival selections were among those cancelled.

Mr Putwain said the Lido would endeavour to reschedule films from the festival but might be unable to because the availability of the reels was time sensitive.

He said the damage to the rest room was “not significant” but suspected the fire would be the subject of a police investigation.

Hamilton-based Andrea Haines, president of the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies, was midway through seeing film festival flick Happy, Happy when the cinema was evacuated.

While she was disappointed to be interrupted mid-film she praised the evacuation as “very controlled”.

The entire Centre Place mall was evacuated as a precaution but movies at Event Cinemas screened uninterrupted for the rest of the night.

There was minimal disruption to traffic turning from Victoria Street onto Bryce Street, with fire trucks stationed at the Bryce Street entrance to the mall.