The latest Disney-Pixar movie, "Planes: Fire and Rescue," is scheduled for a nationwide release this Friday, and Disney is partnering with the Florida Forest Service as part of that release.
Before the movie starts, Florida moviegoers will see a 30-second educational video about Florida’s Wildland Firefighters and their effort to combat wildfires.
That short video coincides with the “Planes: Fire and Rescue” movie—a sequel to the 2013 film, Planes, featuring the world famous air racer Dusty Crophopper. He’s now learning to fight wildfires with veteran land-and-aircraft fire crews as heard in the latter part of this movie clip:
And, when Crophopper flies through the air, it appears like he’s dropping mud over the fire, which Florida Forest Service Spokeswoman Chelsea Ealum says is not uncommon.
“We have certain planes that have capability of dropping either water or a type of mixture that is a type of fire suppressant, which is probably what you’re looking at in the clip for the movie. It’s a plane that just goes over the fire and drops either that water or fire suppressant type of material. And, it helps to just slow down the fire so the firefighters on the ground can create a line that will keep the fire contained,” said Ealum.
And, she says in the partnership with Disney, her department is excited to show moviegoers the important work the about 630 Florida Wildland Firefighters do using all sorts of different equipment to battle wildfires.
“So, it’s important that we recognize that the movie highlights this for wildland firefighters across the U.S. and here at home,” she added. “And, it’s just a great opportunity to show kids what we do each and every day here at the Florida Forest Service, and to remember when they see matches or lighters to give them to adults, and to remind adults that when they have a fire outside—a good fire—to make sure to keep it attended and make sure to keep it attended and make sure it doesn’t escape because those firefighters do put their lives on the line to help us out.”
There’ve also been a number of pre-screenings in cities around the state where Florida Forest Service and Radio Disney’s Road Crew greet guests and demonstrate firefighting equipment to put a real-life face to some of the movie characters.
“Planes: Fire and Rescue” hits the nation’s big screens this Friday.
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