CRANDON, Wis. — Riders of a roller coaster in Northern Wisconsin had to be rescued after the ride stopped, stranding them upside down over the weekend.
It happened during the Forest County Festival at the Crandon International Raceway near the city of Crandon on Sunday, as confirmed through TMJ4. The carnival ride, called the Fireball, consisting of a single loop, stopped upside down during the middle of the ride. Seven of the eight riders were children.
The city of Crandon did not have equipment capable of rescuing the riders. As a result, those riders had to wait at least three hours until a neighboring Northern Wisconsin city, Antigo, responded with a ladder truck and completed the rescue. Each of the individuals was rescued safely with one person taken to a local hospital.
The cause of why the machine malfunctioned is unknown. Captain Brennan Cook from the Crandon Fire Department confirmed in a media briefing that the ride had been inspected by the State of Wisconsin on site in the days leading up to the incident.
All amusement park rides are required by state law to be inspected by a state certified representative annually, while the operator of the ride must inspect the attraction daily before any rides are given, along with periodic inspections by technicians and other staff.
The malfunction follows the sudden closure a roller coaster at Carowinds’ amusement park in North Carolina last week because of a crack in one of the pillars.
Back in Wisconsin, officials at the Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, now entering their 131st year of operation, have several of their own rides have been closed during the month of June, or remain closed because of delays in getting parts to repair the rides.
The Crandon International Raceway will also be hosting hard rock group KISS later this summer in what’s likely to be their last concert in Northern Wisconsin.
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