NEWS: Fire sweeps through roller coaster manufacturer

http://www.newutah.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=49351&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Friday, March 04, 2005 - 12:00 AM |

 

The Daily Herald

 

Fire destroys industrial building housing two businesses

 

The Associated Press

 

HYRUM -- Fire of undetermined cause destroyed an old industrial building housing two businesses Thursday.

 

The blaze in what once was a turkey barn was fought by 55 firefighters from six departments.

 

Cache County Fire Chief Kelly Pitcher said the building, which did not have sprinklers, was a total loss.

 

It contained roller-coaster cars made by Spectrum Manufacturing and insulation and recycled paper stored by Mountain Fiber. There was no immediate monetary estimate of the damage.

 

The fire broke out about 3:30 p.m. No employees were in the building and no injuries were reported.

 

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D3.

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=154093

Cache County Fire Wipes Out Two Businesses

Mar. 3, 2005

 

Fire...ripped through a Cache County industrial building, tonight...and, wiped out two businesses.

 

Jed Boal just returned from Hyrum, and tells us the building is a total loss.

 

No one was hurt, but the fire was a major blow to both businesses.

 

Take a look from Chopper Five at this thick column of smoke as flames ripped through the massive metal building...

 

For years...it was a turkey barn.

 

When the fire started around 3:30...all employees were gone for the day.

 

When the owner of Spectrum Manufacturing got the call that his business was going up in flames...his wife says there was little he could do.

 

Kim Nielsen/Business Owner's Wife: "HE BEAT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND HEARD EXPLOSIONS AND THE BUSINESS WAS ON FIRE."

 

Spectrum makes amusement park equipment.

 

In all of this debris...roller coaster cars ready to ship out.

 

Kim Nielsen/Business Owner's Wife: "IT'S VERY DEVASTATING, ESPECIALLY FOR MY HUSBAND. FROM A SMALL BUSINESS...TO THIS."

 

They lost a fiberglass shop and a paint shop...both stored flammable chemicals.

 

On the other side...Mountain Fiber stored housing insulation and recycled paper.

 

Kelly Pitcher/Cache County Fire Chief: "IT DESTROYED THE BUILDING...THINGS LIKE THAT."

 

The heavy timber construction and all of the combustable material burned quickly under the metal roof.

 

Kelly Pitcher/Cache County Fire Chief: "WE'RE NOT GOING TO RISK...IN HARM'S WAY."

 

Firefighters will work long hours digging through the layers of smoldering debris.

 

As for Kim Nielsen and her husband...

 

"WE'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES."

 

The fire Chief called the building a total loss...but, it's too early to determine a damage estimate.

 

Fire investigators will start to look for the cause tomorrow.

Anyone have any idea what this company makes or what ride the cars may have been for?

--Robb

The only company in the coastering industry I know of with a name somewhat like that is Spectra FX, who started building Pteranodon Flyers in IOA. I believe they went out of business a long time ago. It could be that they have tried to make their way back into business under a new name. But, I can't say anything for sure.

They may have done outsourcing for S&S/Arrow or Interactive Rides, however I'm not sure as Arrow used Intermountain Lift for their contract work, so not sure if S&S kept them as a contractor after the purchase of Arrow.

Could of been for anyone in the industry. ARM uses Larson .. so who really knows.

They did outsourcing for Premier Rides, they built the Mummy trains and the cars destroyed were heading to PKI it sounds like for Italian Job

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=154281

Is that a new ride, or are they just new trains?

It's a new ride. Here's the quote from the article:

What’s now charred rubble was roller coaster cars that were going to be sent to an amusement park in Ohio. Today workers came back to look at the damage to see if any of the parts could be salvaged.

I wonder how far that would set back Italian Job from opening?

--Robb

Yeah it was 2 of PKIs IJST trains. So now the park only has the one that was at the park.. Have fun in line now!

lol

Ah that makes Italian Job seem that much worse... I can't honestly believe that they can even come close to enough people even with 3...

Here is an update on the fire:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050308/NEWS01/503080366/1056/news01

Fire won't delay stunt track debut

 

A fire at a Utah storage warehouse last week destroyed or damaged parts of Paramount's Kings Island's newest attraction, The Italian Job: Stunt Track. But park officials say the setback won't delay the opening of the interactive coaster, a ride based on a chase scene from the 2003 movie. Kings Island will open April 9, but the ride wasn't supposed to be finished until later. It wasn't clear Monday how much damage was done to the Mini Cooper S coaster cars when the warehouse burned in Byrum, Utah. But "all the plans in place are still a go," park spokesman Jeffrey Siebert said Monday. The Italian Job coaster is being built by Maryland-based Premier Rides, which did not return phone calls.

^ Everything is going according to planned? Does that include the one-car, 12 seat, 60-100 pph, 4 hour waits, that we all had in mind.

Surprise Surprise...once again a new ride not opening with the park...grrr

Elissa "Anyone else think PKI might steel a train from PCW???" Alvey

First of all.... kudos to Robb for having this posted on here even before I read it in the newspaper that's been sitting here next me all day (so much for my "Oh, I will have to get onto TPR and post this little tidbit from today's paper" feeling of superiority)

Second, to Elissa's comment... as with the past several "major attractions" at the park, IJ is not set to open until the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. Not sure why they do this, I guess it gives them more "warm weather" time to finish the ride, however it also doesn't give them time to work out the kinks (and there's always something!!) before the crowds start pouring in!

Shari "bowing to the Alvey's for reading the Cincy Enquirer before I did" Shoufler

"Anyone else think PKI might steel a train from PCW???

That's possible.

PKI and PCW already have the track done so now it's scenery. The train situation could be fixed with a coat of paint...I think.

I know that I plan on going on April 9th for the park opening and I have a media preview pass for IJ:ST on May 19th. I wouldn't be shocked to see PKI use one of PCW's trains, because the trains are very complex, so they can't just be built.