Major Brush/Forrest Fire, north of Epcot

[Jose Eber]

Right now a fire is a'raging on Disney Property, just north of Epcot's parking lot.

Access to Epcot has been cut off of world drive.

I hope to get footage soon. See my DisneyHD podcast for updates.

This is odd, as during the last hour MK and Resort area has been deluged with rain.

Lightning strike perhaps started it?

 

[DisneyDellsDude]

Think it would be on the news soon?

 

[Mr Bill]

Wasn't there one near AK yesterday as well?

 

[nicolita3]

i work 5 minutes from there it was a car accident that hit some sort of pole and it caused the fire.

 

[SirNim]

Certainly not good news...

 

[rkillin]

I was in EPCOT today. Lots and lots of smoke and haze in the morning. The afternoon was clear at EPCOT. Wind must have shifted.

We are staying at Riverside. Tonight, like as of 5 minutes ago, the smoke smell was strong at the resort.

A bus driver told me it was lightning. As much as I appreciate the bus drivers... not someone I would stake my life on.

Rick

 

[utrythinkinof1]

Well, with Orlando getting half the amount of rain it should be getting for the year...this is not surprising.

 

[donsullivan]

I just got back from MK a few minutes ago. They had all access to EPCOT Center drive closed from World Drive as I was leaving. I normally head that way home and they were re-routing traffic away from there and down World Drive.

You could see the smoke rising from the Magic Kingdom just after the rain storm ended as I was headed back to TTC.

The fire southwest of the property was still burning pretty much all of the day. At various points during the day you could see and smell the smoke all around the MK area.

 

[CatLady]

North of Epcot... that's the area that Disney was obligated to leave untouched that has all of the downed and leaning trees, isn't it? I've been commenting since hurricane Charley that once that area gets a brush fire started, it's going to be bad because there's a lot of dead stuff in there. I hope the rain coming through tonight helps get it under control.

You could smell smoke from another fire (maybe the one near AK) out by the airport this morning when it was still hazy and the cloud ceiling was low.

I don't normally look forward to hurricane season, but we need the rain!

 

[typhoonguy]

Open

I picked up a costume from MK costuming around 12:30 today and you could smell something funky. But I took World Center Drive on the way home with no problems at all.

 

[Jose Eber]

Just to clarify there are up to three fires now going on. At the intersection 192 and the new 429 (3 miles from AK) there has been a fire there for days.

Tonight just north of the EPCOT parking lot a fire was started apparently by a car fire that caught the brush on fire.

And there might be a third fire that was started by lightening.

Picts coming soon, video tomorrow or tonight on my podcast.

 

[Irrawaddy Erik]

The fire near DAK was causing a few problems in DAK today. Lets hope that the rain from the Tropical Storm might help out the area.

 

[Jose Eber]

Exactly. It really rained by MK (having dinner at California Grill) but have no idea if that fire by AK was affected.

Pics:

View from Contemporary.

View from Swan

View from Dolphin

For more images go to:Disney Fire Photo Page

I have footage from Contemporary, Swan and Dolphin coming up on my podcast soon.

 

[mikemand25]

Is it true that parts of World Showcase at Epcot were closed around 8pm because of the fires?

 

[Jose Eber]

Hadn't heard that. If anything Future World would be closed first as its closer.

I didn't notice much monorail activity but did spot one. The track goes really close there.

 

[Horizons78]

Once again I pray for rain......and once again I say:

This tropical depression moving up could be a very, very welcomed event.

 

[PlaneJane]

this is the natural circle of nature. Hurricanes knock down the old trees, fires burn the dead and create extremely good conditions for seedlings. CIRCLE OF LIFE!!

 

[Jose Eber]

Well, I'm surprised there wasn't more panic as I was hanging around the Epcot Resort Area.

You could smell smoke all over wdw resort now (not just from the fire a few miles from AK).

 

[Horizons78]

The possible solution:

Track has moved north even in the last few hours.

 

[Jose Eber]

solution or a problem -- there were conflicting reports that the fire was started by lightning, this was after a huge 5 minute downpour (at least in the MK resort area).



thanks for the update -- yah, it looked like it crept up there a bit, dang.