The Research That Went Into Planes #FireandRescue at Van Nuys Air Tanker Base #DisneyInHomeEvent

I was invited for an expenses paid trip to LA by Disney to cover the #VeryBadDayEvent and #DisneyInHomeEvent in exchange for my posts of the trip experiences. All opinions are my own.

While on our trip in LA for the #DisneyInHomeEvent we had the chance to visit the Van Nuys Air Tanker Base to learn about the research that went into the making of Planes Fire and Rescue.

LA County Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Steve Martin took some time to talk with us about how Disney came to the Van Nuys air tanker base to do their research for Planes Fire and Rescue.

Steve: “I received a phone call from some folks at Disney about three years ago and they said hey, you know that movie Cars? I’m like yeah. They go, were going to do one on planes. And I said well, that sounds like a cool idea. But the Disney folks are so square, they said yeah, we’re working for 2014, 15 and 16, like way out. So they were just doing, at that time, investigating it and fact gathering and wanted to know some things. So like I said, I’ve got to give props to the Disney people. They do their homework.

So they came out and they met our folks just like you did today, came here to the facility. They met some of the pilots, the maintenance crew. They walked around the aircraft. They had them fire it up. They listened to the sound of it. They watched it fly. I think some of them even took a flight in it. They really, really did their homework.

They went back to the offices. Called me a few weeks later saying, hey we missed a little something. Can we come and look again? Sure, come on out. So we had been out here a few times. They would send me a script and they would highlight asking, is this the proper word? Is this the terminology you would use? [Asking] what would you say in this case? And a lot of times they would scratch something out and I’d say no, no we don’t talk like that.

Basically they’re making a movie but they wanted to be technically correct. In this case here when it was about the aircraft, and it was about flying, about the fire department, about rescues, we knew the language that we speak. And they took every single one of those things that I said and put it in the script and changed the script.”

He also mentioned that Disney put his name and the LA County Fire Department in the end credits. He thought that was very neat and cool to be in the credits of a Disney film.

I very much enjoyed being able to see these planes in person.

This chopper was the inspiration for Windlifter in the movie.

Here I am with the plane (Canadian Super Scooper) that was part of the inspiration for Dipper.

One of the pilots showed us how the planes fill up with water, it is such a small area that the water enters and it can fill the plane with 1,600 gallons of water in just 12 seconds! That’s awesome!By the way, you need to look up videos of Super Scoopers to watch these planes in action. Very cool.

I very much enjoyed hearing about how Disney collaborated with the fire fighters and pilots in their research for Planes.

Today is the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week.

“Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on October 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on October 9, 1871.”-nfpa.org

Sometimes fires are cause by acts of nature and can’t be avoided, but there are fires that are caused by humans. We need to do our best to make sure we are preventing these fires and that we are prepared should we ever find ourselves in a fire.

This years theme for Fire Prevention Week is WORKING SMOKE ALARMS SAVE LIVES: TEST YOURS EVERY MONTH.

I think by now we all have smoke detectors in our homes, but how often do we check them to make sure they are working? I know I am guilty of not doing this nearly often enough. I will even admit that I have ignored the beeping (indicating the battery is low) for weeks. Now that I write it out, I realize just how horrible that is to do. Checking the smoke alarms each month (and replacing the batteries) is such a simple thing to do to ensure my family is safe. I am so glad for this message and reminder since I know will be doing this with my family monthly.

You can get a printable reminder calendar to check off each month here.

A few more ideas for implementing with your family during fire safety week:

Make sure your children know what do do in a fire. Do they know to get low, check for a hot door, and find a safe way out?
Make sure your children know how to call the fire department once they are outside safe, or they know to get a neighbor to call for them.
Make a plan of where you will all meet should a fire start, where is your outside meeting place?
Do you know what items you will need to grab if your home is in danger of a fire and you have to evacuate? Having an emergency kit available to grab will be so beneficial to get you through until help arrives.

I challenge everyone to get a little better educated about fires, prevention and safety and then teach your family and get prepared. This week is a great week to do it! And of course start checking your Smoke Alarms monthly.

While we were at the Van Nuys Air Tanker Base we were able to get some training from Fire Fighter Martinez of the LA County Fire Department. He is the one who teaches the CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) education in the area. CERT is about getting civilians ready to be able to help their community in an emergency.

Some important things to know (that he taught us):

Only try to put out SMALL fires (save the big ones for the Fire Department and just get out)
If you use a fire extinguisher at all (even just a little) you need to have it serviced. Or purchase a new one.
Your fire extinguisher should be serviced yearly, or a new one purchased yearly.
He recommends having at least 1 fire extinguisher in the kitchen and 1 in the bedroom of your home.
Fire extinguishers are not an expensive purchase and are very worth the money should you have a small fire start in your home.
Never turn your back on a fire. Even if you think it is out, keep your eyes on it to make sure it is.

He also taught us hands on, how to put out a fire using an extinguisher. Here I am giving it a go.