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Smoking refrigerator leads to Guest evacuation of Space Mountain & PeopleMover attractions

space mountain reedy creek
Credit: Disney/RCFD

We reported earlier this afternoon that according to a tweet from an Orlando-based travel site, Gotta Go Orlando, Space Mountain and the PeopleMover at Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort had been evacuated after a fire alarm was activated. The Reedy Creek Fire Department responded to the call.

Shortly after seeing Gotta Go Orlando’s tweet, another tweet claimed that a spokesperson for Reedy Creek confirmed that the department had responded to a call, but that there was no fire, leaving no answers about what exactly had prompted the evacuation of Guests at both attractions, the activation of the fire alarm, and the response from Reedy Creek.

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Now, according to The Orlando Sentinel, smoke from a breakroom refrigerator led to the evacuation of Guests from Space Mountain, per Tim Stromsnes, communications director for the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters and a union official for the firefighters.

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Stromsnes says only one engine responded to the call for help. Once a Reedy Creek firefighter unplugged the refrigerator, the other units that had been called to assist in the response were canceled.

Eryka Washington, a spokeswoman for Reedy Creek, confirmed that there had been no fire at Space Mountain.

A call for assistance from the Orange County Fire Rescue was also placed for aid at an address near Tomorrowland, but that call was also canceled. According to the My Disney Experience app, at 4:30 p.m. local time, the Space Mountain attraction was still closed, but by 4:45 p.m., it had reopened to Guests with an 80-minute wait to experience the attraction.

As of 5:00 p.m. local time, the PeopleMover attraction remained closed, though it had opened briefly sometime around 4:30 p.m.

Thankfully, to our knowledge, there have been no injuries reported at this time. We will continue to update you on this story as any new information becomes available.

About Becky Burkett

Becky's from the Lone Star State and has been writing since she was 10 and encountered her first Disney Park when she was 11. It was love at first Main Street Electrical Parade. Joy is blank lined journals, 0.7 mm pens, and all things Walt, Woody and Buzz, PIXAR, Imagineering, Sleeping Beauty (make it blue!), Disney Parks history and EPCOT. At Disney World, you'll find her croonin' with the birdies at the Enchanted Tiki Room or hangin' with Woody and the gang at Toy Story Land. If you can dream, you really can do it!