How does Disneyland avoid burning to the ground

TROR

TROR

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Disney parks have had their fair share of fires but there's never been anything major. With the tiki torches in Adventureland or the pyros around Tom Sawyer's Island, how has it happened that no plants ever caught fire causing major harm to the structures? The reason I mention this is because, in case you haven't heard, there's a huge fire going on right now in Europa Park in Germany that destroyed their Piraten in Batavia attraction as well as the Norway/Scandinavian section of the park. With all the fire effects within Disneyland and how tightly packed everything is, I'm curious to know what kind of measures Disney really takes to prevent this from happening.

DeI6u8lX0AACfVH.jpg:large
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Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Disneyland has a dedicate fire department on-site. And no I'm not talking about the building on Main St.

http://www.angelfire.com/mt/matt26775/Disney.html

Its made up of retired firefighters.

So with that along with trained employees, it rare you have a fire that will burn large portions of the park.

FYI a couple years ago there was a large fire that destroyed part of IASW facade.
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
From the start, there was a Disneyland Fire Department, a REAL one, not one for show. And then they partnered with the Anaheim Fire Department and OCFA. So in that way, they have been good from the start.

Next was in construction. At the beginning, the park was a bit lucky, with lots of wood structures. But good construction, and building codes has helped greatly. They have prevent some small stuff never get big. Same with Fireworks. Is it a pain in the butt to do the show, all the wind testing, the need for security to clear areas, etc. Of course, but it has worked.

Safety first works, or in this case Safety third. And in case you don't know the slogan...

http://mikerowe.com/2014/08/off-the-wall-safety-third-conversation-continues/
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
TROR said:
there's a huge fire going on right now in Europa Park in Germany that destroyed their Piraten in Batavia attraction as well as the Norway/Scandinavian section of the park.

DeI6u8lX0AACfVH.jpg:large
Click to expand...

Wow, that's gotta hurt a smaller park like Europa that really depends on their summer season.

And on second thought.... it's a Saturday evening in Germany right now, and the park must have been full of people. I hope there are no casualties or deaths, but this doesn't look good at all. Yikes. :(



Watching that video, there are crowds of people milling around nearby. The roller coaster in the lower right of the frame continues to operate while the fire burns seemingly out of control. I have to believe Disneyland would handle this scale of a disaster differently and immediately start evacuating the park.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Wow, that's gotta hurt a smaller park like Europa that really depends on their summer season.

And on second thought.... it's a Saturday evening in Germany right now, and the park must have been full of people. I hope there are no casualties or deaths, but this doesn't look good at all. Yikes. :(



Watching that video, there are crowds of people milling around nearby. The roller coaster in the lower right of the frame continues to operate while the fire burns seemingly out of control. I have to believe Disneyland would handle this scale of a disaster differently and immediately start evacuating the park.
Click to expand...

So only Monsters Inc Laugh Floor got destroyed by fire and not Stitch? It's a good thing Space Mountain in the lower right was ok.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
It’s probably too early to say whether Disneyland is susceptible to something similar. Universal Studios Hollywood did have the large backlot conflagration a few years ago.

While Disneyland has seen many renovations over the years, how much of a building has to be brought up to current codes depends on the scope of the renovation. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are areas that are still built to much older codes. This all though would assume the issue is one that would have been prevented by contemporary US codes.

TP2000 said:
Wow, that's gotta hurt a smaller park like Europa that really depends on their summer season
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Europa Park is a showcase park for Mack Rides, so they have other sources of income. Slinky Dog Dash is a Mack Rides roller coaster.
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Did you know that the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank has its own Fire Department.....

http://archive.fortune.com/2010/02/23/news/companies/disney_fire_movies.fortune/index.htm

>>
Today the Walt Disney Studios Fire Department, launched in 1989, is like any other around the country -- it has its own station, its own fire engine, and 15 firefighters. (The one exception: no Dalmatian. You figured they would have one of those, right?)


The original idea was that the company was growing rapidly and couldn't depend totally on the locals in the event of a catastrophic event. "We all know that should something really bad occur, we may be on our own," says assistant chief Don Clark.


While the Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) team occasionally helps area fire departments -- as it did a few years ago when the squad battled a Hollywood Hills fire -- the prime directive is to protect Disney property.


Fire prevention at the company's Burbank and Glendale locations, its Prospect Studios, and its almost 900-acre Golden Oak Ranch falls to the department's three full-time members. They watch for fire hazards typical of any corporate office, but some duties are unique to the entertainment business. The firefighters check production schedules for potentially dangerous special effects and are on the lookout for fire risks such as blown lights.


Most of the fire team is made up of volunteers, who may be Disney IT specialists or financial analysts. Why the second job? Some dreamed of being firefighters as kids. Some just get the bug.<<
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
OK, did some research and here is what I got.

The first building built on Main Street, and probably the park was 105 Main Street, aka the Fire Department building. Yes, Walt's Apartment was on top, but that was probably planned. So you had the safety of the Fire Department during construction. (While Anaheim had a Fire Department, it was staffed by volunteers, and since it was based near City Hall, wouldn't be the fastest response. (The city went Professional in 1960).

But Walt and his crew valued the need for a Fire Department that was fully staffed when the construction was going on.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1 said:
OK, did some research and here is what I got.

The first building built on Main Street, and probably the park was 105 Main Street, aka the Fire Department building. Yes, Walt's Apartment was on top, but that was probably planned. So you had the safety of the Fire Department during construction. (While Anaheim had a Fire Department, it was staffed by volunteers, and since it was based near City Hall, wouldn't be the fastest response. (The city went Professional in 1960).

But Walt and his crew valued the need for a Fire Department that was fully staffed when the construction was going on.
Click to expand...

I can only imagine the headlines if they hadn't had a fire department, and an accident happened.

"Walt lights investor money on fire, new park fails before open"
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
One more goodie...

https://waltdisney.org/blog/history-disneyland-transportation

>>In 1956, a few “newfangled” motorized vehicles made their way onto Main Street, U.S.A, and are still in operation today. First, a red vehicle, followed a few months later by a yellow one. Both cars were small, attractive, and capable of carrying about six passengers each. The Omnibus that showed up that year, however, was slightly larger. The green double-decker bus made its debut in the summer, and with its ability to provide a brand new vista of Main Street, as well as carry over seven times as many passengers as its little cousins, it was an instant hit. The last addition to the Main Street fleet was, like every other vehicle, designed by Disney Legend Bob Gurr. It was a vintage fire truck, assembled in the Disney Studios about 45 minutes north of Disneyland. And when Gurr finished creating the park’s final Main Street vehicle, he didn’t have it delivered on the back of a flatbed truck. He drove it to Disneyland himself.<<
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
One more...

http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/1916DisneylandFireEngine.html

>>
1916 American LaFrance is a combination, meaning it has a pump and a hose, but no water tank. This vehicle was in service with the Venice Fire Department, in Venice, California until the Los Angeles Fire Department took over the Venice Fire Department. This became LA Fire Department Engine 63. To the best of our knowledge it was retired sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, at which time it was purchased by a man by the name of Ward Kimball.


You may know Ward Kimball as one of Walt Disney's first animators. Jiminy Cricket is one of his characters. Ward Kimball liked to collect things like fire engines, trains, model trains, ships all sorts of scale models. On his property in Temple City he had a small firehouse, he had an engine house for his narrow gauge locomotives. He had a train depot movie prop from a movie that was filmed by Walt Disney. The town in that movie was called Grizzley Flats.


So, Ward restored the 1916 ALF and he painted Grizzley Flats on the hood, and his train depot was named Grizzley Flats as well. This fire engine was also used by Mr. Kimball to drive around Disneyland with his band, the Firehouse 5 Plus 2. The Dixieland style band would be in the hose bed and they would entertain everyone at Disneyland.


When Ward Kimball passed away, his family donated the fire engine to the Museum. They also donated his 1888 Silsby Steam Fire Engine to the Fire Museum. The history of this little fire engine is rich, not only with Los Angeles Fire Department history, but with Ward Kimball and Disneyland.<<
 

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