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Smoke causes Springfield Mall evacuation on 'Super Saturday'

Thousands of last minute holiday gift hunters were evacuated on "Super Saturday" when a vent broke in the food court inside Springfield Mall.

Last minute shoppers at Springfield Mall were evacuated on Saturday when a vent broke in the food court.
Last minute shoppers at Springfield Mall were evacuated on Saturday when a vent broke in the food court.Read moreED HILLE

Thousands of last-minute holiday shoppers at the Springfield Mall were evacuated for nearly two hours on Saturday when a vent broke in the food court.

The mall was evacuated just after 3 p.m. as firefighters arrived to extinguish what appeared to be smoke inside Sbarro's in the food court.

The incident was initially reported as a fire. But "it was a vent malfunction, no actual fire," said Heather Crowell, spokeswoman for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which owns the mall in Delaware County.

The mall was reopened about 4:30 p.m.

The evacuation happened on "Super Saturday," a term for the final weekend of the busy holiday-shopping season culminating with Christmas Day.

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    Suzette Parmley
    Suzette Parmley has been the Inquirer's gaming writer since 2005, covering all aspects of the casino industry in Atlantic City and Pennsylvania. She has reported on casinos from Las Vegas, Macao and Biloxi, and about a dozen states. She’s profiled Donald Trump, Sheldon Adelson and just about every major gaming CEO. Along the way, she’s won several state writing awards in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for her gambling coverage. Prior to taking up casinos, she was a Trenton Statehouse reporter for five years, covering Governors Whitman and McGreevey. She also covered the Bush presidential campaign in Pennsylvania in 2004, and was a general assignment reporter based in Philadelphia in the late ‘90’s.