Fire risk shuts down Ballarat leisure operations

A Ballarat Go-kart and laser gaming operator is among 15 businesses ordered to vacate their premises having been deemed a fire risk, with owner Nigel Kaye concerned that Ballarat City Council has been slow in telling the affected business owners how they could remedy the situation.

The affected businesses include leisure operations Major League, Spartan's Gym, Ballarat Ten Pin Bowling Centre and Existdance.

Kaye, who purchased Ballarat Indoor Go-Karts and the Laserforce gaming business earlier this year, told ABC Local Radio that the Council only advised owners of the problem before last weekend the issue being that the premises had false ceilings installed, which were apparently covering the sprinkler system.

Kaye explained "we were all kept in the dark, so we were all having meetings every couple of days to see if anyone was aware of anything..

"What we've now done is (to) remove all of our false ceiling allowing the sprinklers to be able to, if there was a fire, to reach the actual fire on the ground rather than just wet the ceiling.

However, Kaye remains concerned as to when the system will be checked and declared up to code or otherwise.

Kaye added "what's frustrating is this could have been done a long time ago, while businesses were running."

Instead, he highlights that the 15 businesses were given 48 hours to vacate the buildings, adding "it could have been simple to explain to us that all it needed was the sprinkler system to be retested.

"The business owner believes it all works fine but it just hasn't been certified being so old, so it's quite frustrating."

Kaye says the level of uncertainty among business owners has been stressful, but they're helping keep each others' spirits up.

Kaye concludes "from our discussions, we're really hoping to be open by Friday. But we're in everyone else's hands, we can only do so much.

"We're not sure when these tests are being done or when council can come through again to confirm that they're happy with the work being done."

Image shows Ballarat Indoor Go-Karts.

23rd October 2012 - LASERFORCE RELEASES THE NEXT GENERATION OF LASER TAG