As the pendulum’s arm swings, the circle spins for a dizzying, dynamic experience that quickly became one of the park’s most popular attractions. Installed at the Boardwalk in 2003, the Fireball resembles a large pendulum from which a circle of passengers are suspended, strapped into inward facing benches. The Fireball - along with all Boardwalk rides - undergoes daily, weekly, monthly and annual inspections by Boardwalk staff as well as annual inspections by the state, Reyes said. The Boardwalk’s Fireball has never had any accidents or mechanical issues, according to Reyes. The ride remains closed indefinitely “pending more information and direction from the state,” Reyes said. Soon after it voluntarily halted the ride, Reyes said the Boardwalk was contacted by a state agency asking all owners of Fireball rides to cease operation until further notice. Santa Cruz Boardwalk spokesman Kris Reyes said that staff met within an hour of the Wednesday evening accident and decided to close the Fireball “out of an abundance of caution.” In a video of the Ohio accident captured by a bystander, a loud crash can be heard before one of the ride’s spinning benches appears to fall off, flinging several people down to the ground below.Īn 18-year-old high school student was killed and at least seven others were injured, according to information released by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “The state guys said, ‘You guys are to be commended for going above and beyond,’” said Reithoffer.SANTA CRUZ > The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s dizzying Fireball ride remained closed after a fatal accident occurred Wednesday with a virtually identical ride at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio. No one was hurt on the ride and it was operating normally soon after. “Fireball” is 5 to 6 years old, according to Reithoffer. State inspectors tested the ride Wednesday, and found it in excellent condition. Patrick Reithoffer, the owner of Reithoffer Shows, reported that “Fireball” was shut down early afternoon Tuesday due to the ride operator detecting an unfamiliar noise coming from the ride. The state of Massachusetts has a very stringent inspection program and all of our rides passed that thorough inspection before the fair opened.” Popovich commented further that the rides are periodically inspected during fair hours. “There was no “incident” and the ride did not “snap”. the ride section was re-assembled, test run and then re-opened,” she said. During one of these inspections our employee dismantled the track of the ride purposely in order to do a thorough inspection of the section. She reported that “.Reithoffer Shows employees are required to inspect each and every ride prior to opening each day. Sharon Popovich, of the Reithoffer Blue Unit front office, responded to the post in an email. Sue Rodrigues, Operations Coordinator for the Brockton Fair, said that the poster had witnessed “routine maintenance,” and that the ride was not, and had not been broken. “Garcia-Cintron” did not respond to the Enterprise’s multiple requests for comment on Wednesday and early Thursday, and the Enterprise was unable to corroborate the claims after a thorough search of the post on Brockton Hub and several personnel interviews. It appears the post was taken down off Facebook some time overnight Wednesday. The post had been shared by 999 Facebook users by 7 p.m., Wednesday, and yielded 255 comments, mostly concerning the operational safety of the fair rides. I was right next to it when that cable came undone and crashing down and the track broke apart, I was 2 feet away saw the whole thing, I already said no one was on the ride when it happened.” The caption read, “Wow failed ride at the fair, just snapped right in front of us.” Subsequent replies by the poster claimed to show pictures of the ride being fixed, culminating in a post that read, “Yeah. BROCKTON – It seems the city now has it own version of Fake News.Īn accusation posted on a local Facebook group’s page claiming that a carnival ride at the Brockton Fair had dangerously failed erupted Tuesday evening, spurring fierce denials from the fair operations coordinator and Reithoffer Shows, the fair’s carnival ride provider and operator.Ī picture of the ride, called “Fireball”, was posted on the Brockton Hub Facebook group by a Facebook user with the screen name “Eva Garcia-Cintron,” in which the track for the circular roller-coaster is ajar.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |