‘We’re putting people who are visiting Disney in danger.’ Firefighters say they are short-handed at theme park

[mkt]

Disney World firefighters say guests are ‘in danger’ because of short-staffing

A woman at a hotel within Walt Disney World had a heart attack in the middle of the day this past Sunday. The call came from the Bay Lake Tower hotel near the Magic Kingdom while the only rescue ve…

www.orlandosentinel.com

And because paywall, here you go: https://archive.md/undpi

 

[Notes from Neverland]

It's a very interesting article. Disney firefighters reportedly refuse to ride the Disney Skyliner.

 

[flynnibus]

same self-serving drama... new year.

 

[JoeCamel]

Disney World firefighters say guests are ‘in danger’ because of short-staffing

A woman at a hotel within Walt Disney World had a heart attack in the middle of the day this past Sunday. The call came from the Bay Lake Tower hotel near the Magic Kingdom while the only rescue ve…

www.orlandosentinel.com

And because paywall, here you go: https://archive.md/undpi

I hate to say it but I have been hearing this for 20+ years. Sure we can always use more first responders on the job but they need to come up with a better plan for getting there.
I bet TDO loved the skyliner remark.

 

[peter11435]

same self-serving drama... new year.

Exactly. They do this every year especially when it’s time for a new contract.

They didn’t seem too understaffed when they rolled multiple units into the Magic Kingdom for a fire that was already put out .

No doubt additional responders would be good. But I dont think it’s nearly as dire as they want you to think. And as for worst case scenarios… that’s why they have mutual aid agreements.

 

[mergatroid]

I always have terrible thoughts when I pass the fire station near Epcot and think to the stories from the book 'The Mouse Betrayed' about the various methods they used in 'hazing' new recruits. Wasn't a pleasant read and cost them a lot of money in an out of court settlement many years ago.

 

[Trauma]

Well this will do wonders for people who are already made nervous by the skyliner.

Last time I was on the Skyliner a lightning storm came out of nowhere after we got on.

I found the idea of getting blasted midair thrilling, it would have been interesting to see if I lived. However it scared the crap out of everyone else on board.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Read the title and thought… must be contract time, the union is resorting to their normal extortion techniques of making Disney look bad to try to get their way.

You could set your watch by it.

 

[monothingie]

Exactly. They do this every year especially when it’s time for a new contract.

They didn’t seem too understaffed when they rolled multiple units into the Magic Kingdom for a fire that was already put out .

No doubt additional responders would be good. But I dont think it’s nearly as dire as they want you to think. And as for worst case scenarios… that’s why they have mutual aid agreements.

So you think that a department with around 130 first responders (not all of whom are assigned to firefighting or EMS, ie fire prevention and administrative tasks) split between three platoons (assuming that they are fully staffed for each tour) is sufficient for a 40 sq mile area with a population of hundreds of thousands, which has hundreds of high hazard and specialized life safety challenges is sufficient and they’re just playing cry baby….

How many FF were on that first due engine? I only counted 3. The bare minimum. They can do better.

 

[monothingie]

Read the title and thought… must be contract time, the union is resorting to their normal extortion techniques of making Disney look bad to try to get their way.

You could set your watch by it.

Damn those POS firefighters wanting to extort a Multi-billion dollars global media powerhouse for….

***shuffles notes***

increased safety.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Damn those POS firefighters wanting to extort a Multi-billion dollars global media powerhouse for….

***shuffles notes***

increased safety.

Odd how we never hear about it when they aren’t in negotiations. Guess “safety” only matters when a check book is involved.

 

[flynnibus]

Well this will do wonders for people who are already made nervous by the skyliner.

Same guy made same complaints after the last major skyline evac.

You will see a trend here...

Event including EMS? Union will make noise about their number of employees at RCID

Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

 

[monothingie]

Odd how we never hear about it when they aren’t in negotiations. Guess “safety” only matters when a check book is involved.

So having more first responders working is a bad thing why??

 

[EeyoreFan#24]

A younger Eeyorefan worked once worked part time for a Central Florida county EMS agency. We ran full ALS transport and staffing has always been an issue. Call volume is always fluctuating, but growing. There will always be a risk of the system being overwhelmed even at excess staffing. Being the only unit in a metro type county with a 25+ minute emergency response for a cpr in progress is always possible. It’s literally a life or death risk assessment for governments. I do think there’s a lot of work to do. Staffing, pay, benefits, attitudes of officials, processes, protocols, etc. Unions never letting a crisis go to waste is also possible.

 

[hosekiller]

Exactly. They do this every year especially when it’s time for a new contract.

They didn’t seem too understaffed when they rolled multiple units into the Magic Kingdom for a fire that was already put out .

No doubt additional responders would be good. But I dont think it’s nearly as dire as they want you to think. And as for worst case scenarios… that’s why they have mutual aid agreements.

My question was why weren’t there more units responding to a reported structure fire in the middle of a busy theme park, and I’m not even sure how they were staffed. I don’t know much about the Reedy Creek Fire Department, but based on what I saw the other night and staffing figures stated in the article, both pre and post pandemic, I’d bet they’re grossly understaffed.

Mutual aid agreements are meant for rarely occurring events, not for day to day operations. I’m not a huge fan of unions, but if they say the same thing year after year after year, perhaps there’s some merit to what is being said?

 

[peter11435]

My question was why weren’t there more units responding to a reported structure fire in the middle of a busy theme park, and I’m not even sure how they were staffed. I don’t know much about the Reedy Creek Fire Department, but based on what I saw the other night and staffing figures stated in the article, both pre and post pandemic, I’d bet they’re grossly understaffed.

Mutual aid agreements are meant for rarely occurring events, not for day to day operations. I’m not a huge fan of unions, but if they say the same thing year after year after year, perhaps there’s some merit to what is being said?

I’m not sure how many units you think was necessary. There were 3 units that came down Main Street and another 2 in the back. And I’m sure they had more information about the location and size of the fire then than you do now.

I never said mutual aid agreements should be relied on for day to day operations. I clearly said they were there for worst case scenarios.

 

[flynnibus]

My question was why weren’t there more units responding to a reported structure fire in the middle of a busy theme park, and I’m not even sure how they were staffed. I don’t know much about the Reedy Creek Fire Department, but based on what I saw the other night and staffing figures stated in the article, both pre and post pandemic, I’d bet they’re grossly understaffed.

Mutual aid agreements are meant for rarely occurring events, not for day to day operations. I’m not a huge fan of unions, but if they say the same thing year after year after year, perhaps there’s some merit to what is being said?

They aren't really built to be a major city dept. They only have 2 engines and 1 tanker for instance. That's one company in a typical county VFD... not a whole county upon itself.

 

[peter11435]

They aren't really built to be a major city dept. They only have 2 engines and 1 tanker for instance. That's one company in a typical county VFD... not a whole county upon itself.

Pretty sure they have 4 engines

 

[flynnibus]

Pretty sure they have 4 engines

I've seen conflicting info depending on which 3rd party site you think is more current, but 4 seems more legit. But even at 4 - it's not like they are built out for fighting multiple concurrent significant incidents or major fires themselves. Lots of small equipment, but very limited when it comes to big stuff. 4 engines 1 tanker 2 ladders..

 

[peter11435]

I've seen conflicting info depending on which 3rd party site you think is more current, but 4 seems more legit. But even at 4 - it's not like they are built out for fighting multiple concurrent significant incidents or major fires themselves. Lots of small equipment, but very limited when it comes to big stuff. 4 engines 1 tanker 2 ladders..

Correct. They couldn’t handle multiple significant incidents.