Kasich is encouraging the Department of Agriculture "to seek additional best practices and new ways we can improve safety," spokesman Jon Keeling said. No Fire Ball ride will be at the State Fair this year when it opens Wednesday. KMG didn't respond to email or phone attempts to seek comment. Ride companies and Ohio inspectors rely on manufacturer bulletins to ensure that rides get required maintenance and that newly uncovered safety problems are checked out. "There was no bulletin sent out from KMG about anything that would indicate any kind of problem like that," said Jill Walls, spokeswoman for New Jersey-based Amusements of America, which operated the Fire Ball ride that broke apart at the Ohio State Fair. He would say only that they were within the manufacturer's new parameters. "We wanted to know what the actual thickness is." Kane declined to provide any other correspondences on the issue, including the final thickness measurements he returned to KMG. "At the time we had questions about it," and so did a third-party inspection firm, Kane said. There's only one reason the arm would lose thickness at that location: rust, said Bill Kane, a senior administrator with North American Midway Entertainment, the firm that contacted KMG about the issue. Six millimeters is less than one-quarter of 1 inch. To check the thickness, KMG instructed the Canadian firm to first "remove all corroded material and clean surface," and when finished to "protect inside of tube with primer to protect surface against corrosion." The measurements were to be returned to KMG, which set the new required thickness at 3.8 millimeters, down from 6 mm, the letter said. A diagram in the letter pinpoints the area affected - exactly where the Fire Ball's arm broke. Each beam holds a four-passenger gondola. Left unsaid was that KMG had been put on notice about the potential rusting issue more than five years earlier.Īccording to a 2012 letter from KMG to ride operators North American Midway Entertainment in Brantford, Ontario, KMG said it was lowering the minimum required thickness of the steel support beams required to operate the ride. This finally led to the catastrophic failure of the ride during operation." We are investigating and will report information as available.Nine days later, Netherlands-based KMG, the manufacturer of the Fire Ball - the ride that Tyler Jarrell had been on - issued its findings: "Excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam dangerously reduced the beam's wall thickness over the years. In a post on its Twitter page it said: "There has been a report of a ride incident. The fair did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
FIRE BALL RIDE OHIO STATE FAIR FULL
Kasich said he has ordered a full investigation and also ordered that all fair rides be shut down until additional safety inspections can be completed. The company did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
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 man who was killed was one of several people who were thrown when the ride malfunctioned, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said earlier.ĭramatic 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.Ī company providing rides at the fair this year describes the Fire Ball as an "aggressive thrill" ride.
"The fair is about the best things in life, and tonight with this accident it becomes a terrible, terrible tragedy," said Republican Gov. Three of the injured remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday night, authorities said at a news conference. 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, hurling people through the air, killing at least one and injuring seven others.
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