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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A swinging and spinning amusement park ride called the Fire Ball broke apart on the opening day of the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday, hurtling people through the air, killing at least one and injuring seven others.

Three of the injured remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday night, authorities said at a late-night news conference.

"The fair is about the best things in life, and tonight with this accident it becomes a terrible, terrible tragedy," said Republican Gov. John Kasich.

The man who was killed was one of several people who were thrown when the ride malfunctioned, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said earlier.

Dramatic video captured by a bystander shows the ride swinging back and forth like a pendulum and spinning in the air when it crashes into something and part of the ride flies off, throwing riders to the ground.

A company providing rides at the fair this year describes the Fire Ball as an "aggressive thrill" ride.

On its website, Amusements of America says that since its debut in 2002, the Fire Ball has become "one of the most popular thrill rides on the AOA Midway." The company description of the ride says it swings riders 40 feet (12 meters) above the midway while spinning them at 13 revolutions per minute.

The company did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

"All of the rides at the fair are checked several times when they are being set up to ensure they are set up the way the manufacturer intended," said Director of Agriculture David Daniels, adding that the Fire Ball passed its inspections.

"We started out today with 11 rides that did not open because the inspection work was not done on them," said Daniels. Four rides will not be operating because they do not meet the mechanical test, he said.

Kasich has ordered that all of the rides be shut down until additional safety inspections can be completed.

The fair runs through Aug. 6.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bigboreshooter,

I wish to eliminate the term "malfunction" when clearly it was a failure, possibly mechanical, but I'm betting it was operator error - most likely failure to properly secure nuts and bolts holding it together.

Does this rise to criminal negligence / manslaughter?

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:
I wish to eliminate the term "malfunction" when clearly it was a failure, possibly mechanical, but I'm betting it was operator error - most likely failure to properly secure nuts and bolts holding it together.

Obviously. The damned thing literally came apart mid-swing.

quote:

Does this rise to criminal negligence / manslaughter?

That depends on the cause of the failure, but sure it could.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:
I wish to eliminate the term "malfunction" when clearly it was a failure, possibly mechanical, but I'm betting it was operator error - most likely failure to properly secure nuts and bolts holding it together.

Obviously. The damned thing literally came apart mid-swing.

quote:

Does this rise to criminal negligence / manslaughter?

That depends on the cause of the failure, but sure it could.

-Rob

It could be the failure of hardware as well. Over torqued holts, corroded metal, wrong type of bolt material, wrong bolt grade...an investigation will hopefully bear that out.

Most likely scenario is as you say though; someone simply overlooked or forgot to properly tighten or torque the fasteners.

That's a pretty horrific accident.

More evidence I was right to swear off these temporary setup rides about circa 1985.....

Ack. There was at least one limb amputation at impact.

The news statement I watched said it had been inspected 2 or 3 times in the days immediately prior.

The bottom platform moves up and down. I wonder if it hit something on the pendulum or if it broke apart on its own?

A lot of lives changed forever and at least one ended.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
More evidence I was right to swear off these temporary setup rides about circa 1985.....

Yep. Haven't been on one since about then myself.

One look at the doper carnies slapping them things together should be enough to keep anyone off.

I never found any thrill in those "cheating death" kind of activities whether it be jumping out of planes, bungee jumping or amusement park rides that are most often not maintained to my standards.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
More evidence I was right to swear off these temporary setup rides about circa 1985.....

Yep. Haven't been on one since about then myself.

One look at the doper carnies slapping them things together should be enough to keep anyone off.

This. I'm hard pressed to let my son ride the kiddie rides when you see who operates them at the things.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:
I wish to eliminate the term "malfunction" when clearly it was a failure, possibly mechanical, but I'm betting it was operator error - most likely failure to properly secure nuts and bolts holding it together.

Obviously. The damned thing literally came apart mid-swing.

quote:

Does this rise to criminal negligence / manslaughter?

That depends on the cause of the failure, but sure it could.

-Rob

It could be the failure of hardware as well. Over torqued holts, corroded metal, wrong type of bolt material, wrong bolt grade...an investigation will hopefully bear that out.

Most likely scenario is as you say though; someone simply overlooked or forgot to properly tighten or torque the fasteners.

That's a pretty horrific accident.

Could it be metal fatigue?

quote:

Could it be metal fatigue?

Of course it could. Despite the best maintenance, inspections, proper assembly, etc. stuff still breaks. This could be human error just as easily as it could have nothing to do with human involvement.

Only way to know is an investigation to piece together what happened.

I'm middle of the road on the carnival rides. I'll ride the tame ones. I will not ride the types shown in the video.

Could be a sheared bolt, broken bracket etc. It would take testing beyond visual inspection to determine metallurgical issues.

It would be interesting to see how much it was used in place before the incident.

If it wasn't assembled correctly it would have probably failed pretty quick. If it was there a while, something probably broke.

Granted, this was 20 years ago, but I remember walking through the midway at our county fair when the carnies were assembling the rides. I very clearly heard this exchange
"Hey, you see that big box of safety pins"
"No, not since last fair"
"Where did you put it?"
"Might have left it there.... just use those bolts in that other box"



Decided right then and there I'd never get on one of those rides again. Clearly safety is not at the top of the list of those operating those rides. Collecting money, smoking, and drinking appear to be much higher.

quote:

Originally posted by Bigboreshooter:

Could it be metal fatigue?

Certainly. That's part of what I meant by over torqued bolts.

The old saying, "tight is loose" comes to mind.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
The news statement I watched said it had been inspected 2 or 3 times in the days immediately prior.

The bottom platform moves up and down. I wonder if it hit something on the pendulum or if it broke apart on its own?

A lot of lives changed forever and at least one ended.

It appears to me that one of the 'leading' chairs broke off at the attachment to the ride. Everything else was a result of colliding with the first chair.

Damn that really stinks.

--------------------------

Very sad situation. I agree that there is great potential for such incidents, due to these rides being repeatedly assembled/disassembled and the type of uneducated workers (carnies) responsible for safety and maintenance of these rides.

Terrible , With these contraptions it is really surprising to me more of this doesn't happen. Large metal mass' moving, twisting, swinging, spinning, etc.
Prayers for the injured.

First thing heard on the video.

"It's going to be fun, don't worry about anything".