Fire on Wild West Falls

[Richard]

This is 15 minute old news, so this is the first place you'll hear it. This is the release - I've shortened it where necessary, because I'm writing this by hand from the release I received just now.

Tonight at approximately 6:00pm a fire occured at the Wild West Ride. Within minutes of the fire the Warner Village Theme Parks' Emergency Response Team was on site followed closely by emergency vehicles. There was no-one in or around the ride at the time of the fire. The fire has caused extensive damage to the ride, however Warner Bros. Movie World will endeavor to have the ride re-opened in time for Christmas. At this stage the cause of the fire remains unknown.   Warner Village Theme Parks was very pleased with the efficiency of the in-house Emergency Response Team, demonstrated this evening with their very quick and able response.

It's just good to know that everyone is safe, and that the damage isn't significant enough to cause extended downtime. Might I suggest that when the ride comes back up, the effects, particularly on the main lift perhaps won't be as specatcular as they normally are. I hope that this doesn't cause any alterations to the ride's effects, or Bermuda Triangle's for that matter.

[WonderPerson]

Keep us updated when info comes to hand Richard.

[WonderPerson]

News Limited story here: http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...55E1702,00.html

[joz]

Good to hear no one got injured, which at the end of the day is all that really matters. Whatever section of the ride it is can be re-built, fixed, replaced, whatever needs to be done. Bit of a bugger for all the people going in the next month or two though.

[thunder001]

Try this link ppl as it shows the ride on fire. http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/...%5E3102,00.html And Joz, as funny as your little "bits on the bottom" of your links are, they are not entirly the truth. The AAF site does not report as you say that the ride is gone, just one member on the boards has written this in a post. A little truth goes a long way.

[Richard]

Yeah, I saw that article in the paper this morning. The picture in the paper is a bigger version, though black and white. As for the news flash. It's not entirely the truth, but it's satire. Maybe it's saying something more about AAF than is immediately obvious from the simple quote. If you don't like that, I don't see you as a big fan of ARN&R.

[thunder001]

^ I can understand the joke and satire is big in my books, but after meeting the gent behind AAF and now knowing who his sources are, I do feel it to be more of AAF bashing than just a joke. Once is a joke, anything more is bashing another site, which I don't approve of reguardless of the site or it's owners. Just my thoughts on the subject is all. Nothing worth worrying about, Trust Me. 8)

[Nightshifter]

for a full report on this disaster watch channel 10 news tonight.

[Richard]

Cheers Nightshifter for letting us know.

[Jaggie]

Man, saw this on the news on 7 and then switched to nine to see their story. Poor Movieworld, hopefully they'll get it up by xmas, Rabid, how was the atmosphere at the park today?

[Ian]

Very busy nearly 3000 and of all people I talked to they said they were having a great day and understood that fire is a serious matter so were not angry that the ride was closed I had a look at wwf and its gutted at the top but wont say anymore.

[Richard]

Well, to put a positive spin on it all, I'm sure it really adds to the "mine on the verge of blowing up" theme they've got going for that last section.

[Richard]

I posted this at Westcoaster, and figured that if I'm going to put it on a Californian site, it might as well go here. I know it's a relief that the park was closed at the time, but I'm starting to think that if the original electrical fault (what else really could it be?) happened much earlier, the ride might even have been in operation today. My guess is it started smouldering and whatnot half an hour or so before the damaging fires and whatnot really kicked off. They say it took them a few minutes to get out there once it was spotted. It would have been going for a while before anything was visible from the ground below or significant smoke became visible. It was presumably smoking off a fair bit before it caught on fire, and they'd have surely gotten reports from riders quickly that there's thick "natural" smoke up the top, and an e-stop and a lot of panicky calls later and they'd have people off the ride in minutes and a much smaller blaze to deal with. The only thing then is they'd have a publicity nightmare on their hands. Not to mention that if my expert opinion is slightly off, then instead of a few heroic guests who notified the operators and saved the day, we have a few chargrilled guests. At the end of the day the important thing is no one was hurt, and really the price tag they've put on the repairs about the park's profits for a single week.

[Daniel]

Call me bloody stupid, but do these rides have smoke alarms? The indoor parts that is. I've never ever really taken much notice before, but can remember smoke alarm type lights on the ceilings in some places... If they're not smoke alarms, what are they?

[GoGoBoy]

I am so devastated about this! Wild West Falls is by far my fave Aussie theme park ride. I just think it's brilliant. As you said Richard, I sure hope they rebuild the effects properly. I love the finale scene with the big explosive tank and that massive gust of wind and smoke that pushes you out the top. It all works so well. Please don't change it or cut back Movie World!! That whole area at the top looks like it was seriously damaged though. I'm so sad about this. It's a relatively new ride too. Why did this have to happen to one of the best parks in Australia and one of the best rides?

[joz]

Lots of points to cover in this reply... Daniel, the ride does have fire alarms, and reported the fire directly to the fire brigade - in other words, the fire alarm was working properly. Goboi, There's no official word on down-time. From what I gather, Xmas is the goal, but may be pushing it. I personally wouldn't be surprised if there was more down time after the holidays if it is up working again, but you can be just about certain about riding again. Richard, I was thinking that today... Looks like the spark finally reached the powder :shock: Wayne, you make a good point. AAF didn't make the claim, one member of its boards did, and its unfair to pin that on Mattie and all the others who work on that side. I would like to extend my apologies to Mattie and everyone else at the site, and will make no more sigs in future which degrade any sites (For the record, I honestly think AAF has good content). I will however, continue to point out posts in any forum which I think are worthy of being ridiculed.

[Daniel]

Ta mate that's what I was after and I presumed that was the case (it being linked to local and internal emergency services).

[thunder001]

The alarms went off within 5-10mins of the fire starting and the fire fighters were there within 5mins of getting the first alarm. This was about the same time that some guests for a private fuction were ariving at the park. This is where the picture of the ride in the courier mail was from, not a member of the press as first thought. The reason for the alarm taking so long to go off is more than likely due to the material it was burning and the direction of the air through the ride. Let me explain a bit more. Part of my job as an electrican is to install security and fire sensors into houses for the earliest setection of fire. In order to do this the alarms must be placed in the prime position to detect smoke in the room. If the sensors are to close to the corner of a wall and ceiling then they are in a air gap, and take longer to work. In a ride like WWR it would be hard to know where to put the sensors as one spot might miss the air flow from another area. Also it is rare to place sensors into an area of extreme heat, say a motor room or air-con room as the dust and other particles will set of smoke detectors also. So if the fire started in the engine room at the back shed at the top of the hill, there may not have been any detectors in the room to set off the alarm. This is all just my thoughts on what may have taken so long, but it is best to wait and see what the official reports bring out.

[Daniel]

Sh*tter.... Movie World arson riddle By Paul Weston December 7, 2003 MYSTERY surrounds a blaze which caused up to $1 million damage to one of Movie World's most popular rides. Firefighters initially thought the blaze, which erupted at the Wild West Ride almost an hour after the Gold Coast theme park closed on Friday, may have been caused by electrical equipment. But scientific police and arson squad detectives arrived from Brisbane yesterday to investigate the scene with firefighters, who are yet to complete their report. A police spokesman said: "It's possibly suspicious." Warner Bros Movie World chief executive John Menzies, who inspected the ride, was surprised by the news. "It's a little bit of a mystery at this stage," Mr Menzies said. The fire began about 5.45pm at an inside turntable part of the ride known as "the explosion room". Theme park visitors ride in small carriages on tracks to the top of a replica mining shaft, complete with boxes of fake dynamite, where they are confronted by smoke from a machine and a voice booming: "Quickly, get out of here. It's about to blow." About 15 minutes after the fire started, sensors alerted the Helensvale fire station. The first of six units and 23 firefighters arrived within five minutes. The fire at the top of the 40m-high concrete mountain took 80 minutes to control, with firefighters in breathing equipment using a unit with a 60m staircase. Mr Menzies said he was working on plans to have the $14 million ride, which opened in 1998, operating again in three weeks. (Taken from http://www.news.com.au. A The Sunday Mail (Qld) story)

[joz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it standard to investigate this sort of thing anywayy?

[Daniel]

Ofcourse it is, it's just being reported that it's possibly suspicious. Hence 'arson' being in the headline... Did you read it?

[joz]

This was about the same time that some guests for a private fuction were ariving at the park. This is where the picture of the ride in the courier mail was from, not a member of the press as first thought.

Just making a point, the guests for that private function were never granted access to the park.

[Nightshifter]

i think this is very bad publicity for movie world. i feel so sorry for them, the park is a great park but to tell you the truth they need more rides. last time i went to movie world, we finished within 2 hours. now that the wild west is broken down its even worse.

[Daniel]

How did they manage to get access to the park then? Surely if it was a private function in a room of some sort access to the park was blocked... Can you please elaborate on your not granted access post?

[thunder001]

As far as I know, the picture was not taken by the paper, but I was informed that a member of the private fuction had taken the picture. If I had thought about it further, I might have relised the picture could have been a still as most of the TV media use digital now instead of normal...( Even channel 9 as I found out during an interview with them last week...different story).