IanW
United Kingdom
179 Posts
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 06 Nov 2006 : 14:49:11  
| Article in the Orlando Sentinel
Firefighters were battling a blaze this morning at Gatorland, the 110-acre alligator theme park and preserve in Orange County.
Large billows of smoke are still coming out of the building, and about 75 firefighters are going full force with hoses to extinguish flames in a building at the front of the park. The fire is pretty much contained, but a few hot spots remain.
The park's signature gator mouth at the main entrance is burned. The teeth on the top are charcoal black, and the building's roof has completely collapsed over the main part of the building.
Michelle Harris, the park's director of marketing and spokeswoman, says park officials believe that two dwarf crocodiles located behind the gift shop have probably died. Firefighters allowed the park's curator in to assess the interior and check on the animals, at about 9:15, but no details have been released yet.
Harris said that officials also are worried about how the smoke may affect a few snakes and other animals.
Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Marianne Nuckles said emergency officials received a call at 5:55 a.m. reporting smoke and flames and the park.
"It became unsafe to go inside and fight the fire," Nuckles said, "so we're fighting it from the outside."
Tim Williams, 55, Gatorland's "Dean of Gator Wrestling, said Gatorland's gift shop, administrative and marketing offices are "pretty much not going to be of service to anyone again." He said earlier this morning that the smoke was so thick he could not see any of the fire equipment. Williams has been with the attraction for more than 30 years, training the attraction's gators.
"I know we are probably going to lose the structure," he said. "It is a very old building. Once those old buildings go, they go."
But he did say that Gatorland is resilient and will get itself together and have a "new look to it."
Orange Blossom Trail has been shut down in the area. John Young Parkway is an alternate route.
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Gatorland on fire
