Fire by Downtown Disney?

[ddave]

My son is staying at SSR. He just called (June 4 @ 11:15am ET) and said there were explosions and thick black smoke coming from somewhere around Downtown Disney maybe by or a little past West Side? Anyone know whats going on?

 

[dandelion]

A friend who is also there sent a pic from her cell phone. From what she overheard from some CMs talking, it was a propane tank at DisneyQuest.

I listened to the webcast of WESH news at noon, and there was no mention of it. Hopefully it was something small and easily controlled.

 

[ddave]

From DisneyworldTrivia.Com

The inferno barge, responsible for many of the spectacular effects for the Illuminations fireworks show in the World Showcase lagoon, exploded today at Epcot. The explosion could be heard thoughout the park and nearby Boardwalk resort area.

There have been no reports of any injuries at this time. The barge sits in the middle of the lagoon, far from Guests, but does normally contain two Cast Members inside during the show.

"IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth," is a nighttime spectacular filled with the fiery glow of torches, a high-energy soundtrack, sky-piercing lasers and thunderous fireworks. The Inferno Barge weighs in at 150,000 pounds, and has 37 nozzles that shoot propane flames to the sky. The energy produced is equivalent to 1.7 Million horsepower.


http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com/articleViewer.php?aid=267

No fireworks?

 

[dandelion]

That story is from September 2005.

 

[ddave]

That story is from September 2005.

Ooops, I thought I found it! I'll have to keep looking.

 

[dandelion]

Ooops, I thought I found it! I'll have to keep looking.

Well, it is a good story.

The lack of media coverage leads me to believe this was not a big fire. Which is a very good thing!

 

[ddave]

My son checked with the front desk and they acknowledged there was a fire in that area and that the fire department is responding. He is a fireman and wasn't thinking this was something small with all the sirens, thick black smoke and what sounded like explosions. A lot of people at SSR were outside checking out what was going on. I'm sure OKW could see the smoke too.

Hopefully we will find out soon and noone is hurt. Now it's got me curious.

 

[kitkat324]

The only info that I have seen about the fire is that it is at Disney Quest and they have closed some Downtown Disney shops.

That is the only thing that I have heard about it. If you go to allears.net there is a picture on the homepage on the left hand side.

 

[m_kasch]

This is the picture from all ears...if it works. from this picture, it doesn't appear to be a very small fire. hopefully, nobody was hurt.

 

[alldiz]

I dont know how to post links but on the
theme parks board.....

someone posted that it was contained in a parking lot....
something about repaving...

I will look again..
Kerri

 

[LilGMom]

If it has to do with repaving the only thing I can think of is one of the asphalt trucks that are equipped with the mixer/spreader equipment on them. They get up to some pretty high temps. Sure hope it wasn't that because people are in close proximity to those machines while they are laying asphalt.

Fingers crossed that everyone is alright.

 

[dandelion]

My friend (who was also the source of the photo on AllEars, btw ) just wrote us that it was a car in the parking lot near Cirque.

On another thread about the fire http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1473695 someone posted that it was a paving machine - again in the parking lot near DQ.

 

[psu4glory]

allears.net just posted an update, apparently confirming that the source of the smoke in the picture was a car fire in the parking lot that is now under control....all stores in the DTD area are now operating as normal....

 

[3DisneyKids]

Wow--sure looked like more than a car fire. Glad to hear that all are safe.

 

[jennypenny]

Wow. There was a horrible car fire like that at the BCV in February when we were there. Weird that there would be two on property. Hope it's not vandalism.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Cars catch fire and burn all the time. I have seen it along the freeways all over. When you have electrical harnesses and gasoline in the same vehicle, it only takes a misfired spark to start things off. Last week we had a motor home catch fire along the freeway during rush hour, and it closed the whole system down for a time!

 

[Boston5602]

We were wondering what was going on too. We saw the smoke while on DME heading back to MCO .

 

[vandy]

We were in Downtown Disney that very night and did not have the slightest clue that there was a fire! Things were operating as normal. We had spent the day at Animal Kingdom so did not see or hear anything. Goes to show you need to go to the DIS to find the latest breaking news!

 

[Deb & Bill]

We heard all the fire sirens as we were packing up at Typhoon Lagoon yesterday about 11AM. As we were stopped at the light leaving TL, we noticed the thick black smoke coming from the parking lot. Traffic was backed up with all the rubberneckers. There was a guy directing traffic on Vista Blvd at the light trying to get them going. As we left TL, we could see some pretty big flames, looked just like they were flaring a refinery or gas rig. It was a big blue and black truck - at first we thought it was a bus. When we drove past DTD later on that afternoon, it was where they were working on repaving the parking lot between Cirque and OKW.

 

[deej696]

I have a family member who is with the Reedy Creek fire department. I usually hear from him when something "big" happens, and alas I didnt get a call yesterday, so perhaps it looked a lot worse than it was.?.