Everyday, visitors to INNOVENTIONS at Epcot are being "edu-tained" about fire safety and learning how to prevent fires in their own homes. These guests are visiting "Where's the Fire?", which is the largest fire safety exhibit in the United States. Walt Disney Imagineering designed this 4,000-square-foot, interactive, fire safety experience in cooperation with Liberty Mutual's fire safety specialists and the U.S. Fire Administration. The exhibit opened in October of 2004 and is designed to educate the daily visitors on the fire safety hazards that may appear in their own homes.
The exhibit is housed in the INNOVENTIONS pavilion at Epcot which is a unique attraction filled with hands-on, interactive exhibits. Visitors from around the globe discover how science and technology can simplify and enhance their lives today and tomorrow. This 100,000-square-foot interactive playground provides guests with the opportunity to explore and discover innovative products and technologies from some of the world's finest companies and associations.
The exhibit at "Where's the Fire?" includes an interactive game house, a miniature house that showcases escape routes, touch-screen kiosks and a real live fire truck. Greeting guests as they enter the exhibit is an interactive 30-foot pumper designed and built by W.S. Darley & Co. of Melrose Park, Ill. The truck demonstrates how a pumper operates and shows equipment worn and used by firefighters. One side of the truck has a "Badges of Honor" display, Liberty Mutual's tribute to the important role of paid and volunteer firefighters in this country. This display and the adjacent kiosk allows guests to see information about their local fire department, including an image of their fire department's patch.
In the game house, two teams of up to 15 park visitors, each search six rooms (kitchen, family room, child bedroom, bathroom, home office and garage) of a house to find and eliminate fire hazards using a specially designed hand-held "safety light." Team members, divided into groups of up to three per room, aim their safety lights onto a wall-sized projected image in each room to find and extinguish hazards. Deciding if the hazard could cause a fire requires discussion: all members of the group must collectively aim their lights at the hazard to fix it. Correct decisions earn points, incorrect or slow decisions mean a point deduction.
To cater to younger guests the "Play it Safe" house was designed. In the United States, children five and under are twice as likely to die in a fire than the rest of our population. Children who visit the four-room miniature house learn several important messages - "Stay low and go", "Stop, drop, cover your face and roll" and most importantly - "Never hide during a fire." Special lighting will simulate the direction fire travels and show children the best way to exit a home. The house also teaches parents that they should develop and practice an escape plan with their family when they return home.
At the exit of the "Play it Safe House" and the "Where's the Fire?" game house are three touch-screen kiosks that present the "Burning Questions". These kiosks have a timed fire safety test - quizzing guests on their knowledge of fire facts and fire safety.
"Where's the Fire?" is open to the public daily from 9 AM until 7 PM in INNOVENTIONS at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort. The experience is initially slated to run through 2007.
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