K-Days has closed one of its most popular rides after a deadly accident in Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday.
“Our thoughts are with those affected by the tragic accident in Ohio this evening. As safety is our number one priority, we support our midway provider’s (North American Midway Entertainment) decision to close the Fire Ball ride until further notice,” Northlands communications manager Lori Cote said.
North American Midway Entertainment also issued a statement on its Facebook page Wednesday night.
“While North American Midway Entertainment is not the Midway provider at the Ohio State Fair, due to the tragic incident there this evening we will keep all our Fire Ball rides closed until further notice from the manufacturer for precautionary safety measures. Our thoughts and prayers are with all involved.”
WATCH: K-Days has shut down the Fire Ball after a deadly accident in Ohio
The closure came after one man was killed and seven other people were injured when a ride malfunctioned at the Ohio State Fair earlier Wednesday
An 18-year-old man was tossed from the Fire Ball ride and killed on impact, about 15 metres from the ride, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said.
WATCH: 1 dead after Fire Ball ride at Ohio State Fair malfunctions, sends riders flying into air
Three people were critically injured while four others are in stable condition, Colonel Paul Pride of the Columbus Highway Patrol said.
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The Fire Ball is made up six sets of seats, which are in a circular configuration at the end of a long arm. The arm swings like a pendulum as riders are being spun.
READ MORE: Canada’s amusement parks: how ride safety stacks up
Scooter Korek, the vice president of client services with North American Midway, said while they weren’t the company operating the ride in Ohio, all Fire Ball rides are made by the same manufacturer, KMG, out of the Netherlands.
“North American Midway owns three Fire Ball rides and we’ve suspended operation of those rides pending the outcome of the report out of Ohio, and also recommendations from the ride manufacturer themselves,” Korek said.
Amusements of America, the operator of the ride that flew apart at the Ohio State Fair, has ordered the same rides be shut down at fairs around the world.
The ride has been a fixture at K-Days for nearly two decades, where it’s been a favourite for riders. It, like all 57 other K-Days rides, undergoes intense scrutiny.
“Here in Alberta, we’re under five levels of inspection. We have third-party inspectors, AEDARSA (Alberta Elevating Devices & Amusement Rides Safety Association) – the provincial inspectors, we have our own safety director, corporate safety director and of course, the most important – the guys running this equipment,” Korek said.
He wanted to assure Edmontonians the rides are safe.
“I’ll just put it this way: any one of my family members can go onto any one of our rides any day,” he said.
“I know our rides are very, very safe. So come on down.”
All of the rides at the Ohio State Fair were shut down as soon as officials were made aware of the situation.
Alberta Municipal Affairs said it will issue a public notice that effective immediately, the KMG-manufactured Fire Ball and Freak Out rides will not be permitted to operate in the province until the findings of the Ohio State Fair accident investigation are released.
“We will evaluate the findings of the investigation related to the cause and nature of the incident to determine if and when these rides will again be permitted to operate in Alberta,” the department said in an email to Global News on Thursday.
READ MORE: Ohio State Fair Fire Ball ride accident kills 1, injures 7 others
According to AEDARSA, the provincial body that regulates safety inspections for amusement park rides, in the last five years, there has only been one incident in all of Alberta that required medical treatment – for an unknown number of people.
Looking back 10 years, there has been a total of 10 incidents with injuries for all amusement rides in Alberta.
The group oversees the safety compliance of hundreds of rides across Alberta, and also does the same for elevators and escalators.
According to the company’s statistics, the risk of being injured on a ride is far less than being injured on an elevating device.
In the last 10 years, there have been 52 incidents with elevating devices where people required medical attention.
— With files from Kevin Nielsen, Global News and The Associated Press.
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