Roller coaster riders trapped upside down for hours at Wisconsin fair
It’s unclear what stalled the race at the Forest County Festival in northeastern Wisconsin. But due to its height and release mechanism, specialist rescue teams and rescue equipment were needed to pull the runners out, according to a press release Tuesday from the Crandon Fire Department and a team of rescue.
It took about 45 minutes for a ladder truck with a 100 foot platform to arrive. An off-duty firefighter with rope rescue training who was at the scene advised firefighters on possible solutions before firefighters from nearby Antigo, Rhinelander and Pelican arrived to help, the statement said.
In a video shared on social media, firefighters talk to passengers to calm them down while others grind metal to help free the passengers.
The first runner hit the ground at 3:20 p.m. and the last at 5:01 p.m., the statement said, more than three hours after the race was halted.
Nine patients were treated by emergency medical services and one was sent to Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital for treatment, according to the press release.
It came days after a dad reported a crack in a steel support beam of a 325ft tall roller coaster at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte on June 30.
His report closed the Fury 325, which the park describes as “North America’s tallest, fastest and longest giga coaster,” for inspection and repair.
washingtonpost
