Fire emergency closes Wyoming Valley Mall

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Scary moments for shoppers inside the Wyoming Valley Mall in Luzerne County. A fire emergency caused an evacuation, leaving two people injured and businesses closed for the remainder of the day.

The mall closed around 12:00 p.m. Thursday evacuating everyone inside.

A woman 28/22 News spoke with who was inside at the time says it was pretty chaotic and she wasn’t told much of what was going on.

Alarms went off inside the Wyoming Valley Mall early Thursday afternoon, moments before it shut down for the day after an emergency .

“It was quite concerning. The alarms were going off and no one was moving,” Mountain Top resident Amanda McCreary said.

McCreary provided video footage and said she was shopping inside the mall when the chaos happened during the evacuation.

“And I just made my way out of the place and nobody else really seemed to pay mind to the alarm, but as soon as I got out, I drove around to the back by the BBQ and I saw they had the two fire trucks and an ambulance was over there, and I didn’t really know what was going on,” McCreary explained.

28/22 News spoke with the owner of K-Pot Korean BBQ and Hot Pot, a new restaurant at the mall that is planning on opening soon.

While this may be a bit of a setback for his restaurant, he said he was more concerned about the two people who were injured.

He planned to visit them at the hospital Thursday afternoon.

“I put my prayers out to the victims if there is any at the time,” McCreary continued.

The owner also says Thursday was the final inspection before the anticipated August opening.

He said there was no serious damage to his business and he plans on still opening as soon as possible.

“I know there’s a lot of stuff closed especially the food court. It’s completely empty in there and I hope they revitalize it and do something,” McCreary added.

We contacted the Wilkes-Barre Township Fire Department as to what caused the emergency and have not heard back.

The mall will reopen Friday during their regular business hours.

As for K-Pot, there is no word on an exact opening date, but the owner hopes to be open as soon as possible.

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