California neighborhood Halloween display so good residents called 911
Travis Long said he didn’t think it would work that well.
But the “pretend fire” feature in his family’s spooky Pirates of the Caribbean-themed Halloween display worked so well — and looked so real — some thought their Riverside house was on fire.
Between Oct. 3 and 9, people called the Riverside Fire Department five times to report a fire, city spokesman Phil Pitchford said.
Firefighters stopped by for a look once, he said, then realized the “fire” was merely a realistic re-creation of a scene from Disneyland’s beloved Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
In a bit of similar trivia, the Anaheim Fire Department worried when the attraction debuted in 1967 that its fire scene looked so authentic that people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the fake blaze and a real one.
As for the Riverside firefighters, Pitchford said they left a note with dispatchers that, in essence, says if someone reports a fire in the Wood Streets — a neighborhood known for elaborate holiday decorations — it “may be the Halloween house. Ask additional questions before sending a fire engine.”
Long’s wife, Carmen, said she calls the fire department every Friday to remind firefighters their display will be drawing attention over the weekend.
While fire engines aren’t rolling anymore to the house at Magnolia Avenue and Chapman Place, plenty of holiday-fun-seeking residents are.
Carmen Long said the display is lit from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and will run through Halloween night. During each two-hour window, about 400 people drop by to see it.
Visitors are wowed by the seeming realness of the fire, but also by the skeleton pirates spread across the property.
Travis Long said he created the fire effect with a satin sheet hanging from a curtain rod, a fan that blows the sheet around and an orange light trained on the sheet.
Besides the fake fire, there is pirate in a ship on the lawn, several pirates on the house, another pirate climbing a fence and two others firing a cannon — for total of 10, Travis Long said.
“We have more,” he said. “We just haven’t put them out. We’re running out of space.”
One pirate leans against the house and sings, “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me,” he said. “And we can’t get it out of our heads now.”
Meanwhile, sound and light effects mimic thunder and lightning.
Carmen Long said this is the fourth Halloween season she and her husband have transformed their home into a set from Pirates of the Caribbean — and, yes, it’s their favorite Disneyland ride.
“It’s the second year that we have had the pretend fire,” she said.
“We want to be good neighbors,” she said.
At the same time, the couple is thrilled that people are finding joy from the display in this pandemic-altered holiday season.
“This year,” Travis Long said, “people are just happy to have something to take their kids to for 10 minutes.”