six flags new jersey haunted house fire victims

[4], A fire began in the attraction at 6:35p.m. on May 11, 1984. Schirmer based his opinion on assumptions about the way the fire developed and the results of previous fire testing. He decided to take the money he had saved and go shopping for new clothes instead. Circles indicate people in and around the attraction when the fire began. The Six Flags Haunted Castle Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror Fascinating Horror 1.02M subscribers 1.4M views 1 year ago #Documentary #TrueStories #History "On the 11th of. Some visitors and employees Smith interviewed thought doors were blocked at times for the security of the actors and to keep people from going outside to smoke cigarettes or marijuana. While his testimony at the trial may have not been looked upon favorably by some, it is important to note that Schirmer also made numerous contributions to the world of automatic sprinklers. A spokesman for the local volunteer fire department said it had not enforced the state requirement for smoke detectors because the township's building inspector said that the code did not apply: the inspector had determined that the Castle was a temporary structure. Fleming then compared residential test data to confirm that the combustible walls could create a 6-megawatt fire. Glenn Vallach, a spokesman for the park, said no new evidence had been found. Strobe lights gave glances of the grim scene. . During peak attendance times both sides of the attraction would be in use, and thousands of visitors would come to the Haunted Castle throughout the normal hours of operation. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The Castles wood-frame faade featured arches and turrets, covered with sprayed and painted urethane foam, where visitors entered and exited. Thirty-three students were missing. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. He also assumed that any sprinkler system installed in the attraction would have been a dry-pipe system, which takes slightly longer to discharge water once activated than a wet-pipe system. THE Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey was just like any other theme park on a spring day in 1984. A medieval-styled faade was built for the Haunted Castle on the site of the Alpen Blitz across from the Muzik Express. The fire and its aftermath 10 Oct 1966 - 11 May 1984. A state panel investigating the fire said that the regulatory system had failed at almost every level, and that the Haunted Castle had been in violation of a dozen state fire codes. Using FDS, they were better able to predict when the design fire would become oxygen limited. Five of those killed Jose Carrion Jr., Eric Rodriguez, Lenny Ruiz, Samuel Valentin Jr. and Christopher Harrison, had been students at Franklin K. Lane High School. As a result of the tragedy, the state Legislature passed new fire-safety requirements for amusement buildings such as haunted house that required all structures designed to disorient, reduce vision, present barriers or impede the flow of traffic, be equipped with fire-detection and -suppression systems, as well as various other fire-safety provisions, McDonnell said. ''We were so naive,'' said the principal. Onlooker Peter Berkery told The New York Times: "I saw security guards running, and parents running and an incredible amount of smoke rising toward the sky. I was assigned job as clerk in gift store. Shortly into my shift I was inexplicably pulled out of shop to stand watch and divert visitors from an area engulfed in smoke and flames. Fitzgerald said the park's in-house fire-safety team routinely checks for hazards and inspects all buildings and equipment. Six Flags Darien Lake Buffalo, NY. Mr. Caufield is also the Newark Fire Director. Great Adventure Inc. and its parent company, the Six Flags Corporation of Chicago, are on trial on charges of aggravated manslaughter. For example, Haunted Castle was not sprinklered, and the question arose over whether lives would have been saved had a sprinkler system been installed. The new sprinkler analysis Glenn Vallach, a spokesman for the park, said no new evidence had been found. 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At the end of the 1978 season, the attraction was disassembled and sent to Six Flags Over Mid-America, where it would continue to run from 1979 through 1982. [33] Seven of the eight families later settled out of court for $2.5 million each; the eighth family chose to go to trial and was awarded $750,000. All posts must contain accurate, unbiased information and adhere to the rules found below. The Mysteries and Controversies Surrounding the deadly . Its great for a rough approximation of initial detector activation, Fairchild says, but beyond that other effects come into play . He died last year in North Carolina at the age of 84. Scan this QR code to download the app now. The answers lie somewhere in shades of gray. However, another defense witness said there were no burn patterns or other evidence of an accelerant. [17], Eight days after the fire, a statement by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said a thirteen-year-old boy had called the police after hearing radio reports that investigators were looking for witnesses. 33 Students Missing. In response to the verdict, and finding it difficult to believe that a sprinkler system would have made no difference, the board of the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) asked Russell P. Fleming to prepare an analysis of expected sprinkler performance to see if it would support the Schirmer opinion. Cookie Notice This is the RAW & UNCUT FOOTAGE of the RUBBLE of the pernicious and deadly fire at the HAUNTED CASTLE AT SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE. Therefore, in my opinion, smoke and heat detectors would not have been of any particular value in this building., The response to Schirmers testimony was sharp and immediate. The committee found that Schirmer did not recognize at the time he personally accepted this engagement as an expert witness that his position as chairman of the Board of NFPA, when juxtaposed with his views in this case as an expert, represented a potentially sensational media event. At an NFPA annual meeting, a motion was made at the opening general session to remove Schirmer as chair of the Board of Directors, but the motion failed. Read more about code changes prompted by the Haunted Castle fire. We were hoping to find a smoking gun, but there doesnt appear to be one. Archived post. He was joined on the project by Brad Casterline, a project manager at FSC, Inc., an engineering firm in Overland Park, Kansas, who contributed experience in fire and panic egress modeling. Six Flags New England did not open at all in 2020. Flame Like Roman Candle. ''Some kids started running toward the haunted house,'' he said, ''but most didn't. On the 11th of May, 1984, a fire began inside the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. For the first time in its history, however, the leadership of NFPAs Board chairman had come into question, according to an October 1985 report to NFPA members from the Executive Committee of the Board. Free resources: SIX FLAGS HAUNTED CASTLE FIRE 4 Emergency personnel responding to the disaster had to use white body bags to differentiate the victims from the charred mannequins. Another of the dead was a few dozen feet away from the group, and also within 25 feet of a fire exit. [15] The township considered the castle a "temporary structure", even after it had been at the park for five years, based on the fact that the trailers were still on wheels. Spooky + Safe Fairchild and Casterline modeled the sprinkler application rates and water distribution patterns directly into FDS, and concurred that sprinklers would have applied water at a sufficient rate and in a distribution pattern that would have suppressed the fire. "At first the smoke was coming out of the top, and then it began to pour out of the haunted house front door. As a result, Six Flags has changed a lot since 1984, he said. According to news reports of the trial, no such boy was ever found, and no other witness testified to seeing such a boy. But it did lead to new fire safety procedures, including sprinkler systems. We thought it would be interesting to look at this again, considering the improvements in modeling over the past 30 years, says Casterline. Both jurors held the two companies blameless because they had been told by township officials that they needed no permit or sprinklers. Park President John Fitzgerald said the fire was a terrible tragedy. They are accused of ''reckless'' conduct in failing to. 1973 Washington Reid School PTA "haunted house" fire in which one half hour before a PTA-built "haunted house" maze was to be open for children's use, the maze caught fire killing one of the PTA volunteer members helping to . '', See the article in its original context from. [21] Shift managers called to testify stated that "none of the exit lights were working, bulbs were missing from other lights and there were no fire alarms, despite a history of patrons using matches and cigarette lighters in the dark corridors". In response to the verdict, and finding it difficult to believe that a sprinkler system would have made no difference, the board of the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) asked Russell P. Fleming to prepare an analysis of expected sprinkler performance to see if it would support the Schirmer opinion. Tickets & Passes. The criminal trial began in New Jersey Superior Court in Toms River on May 29, 1985. The trailers housed two separate Haunted Castle attractions, mirror images of each other, which operated simultaneously during peak times. Most of the attraction was contained in 16 commercial truck trailers, connected by plywood and wood framing. FDS does not include a fluid delivery model, however, so Fairchild enlisted the help of Mike Mahomet of Tyco, who holds the patent on Tycos fluid delivery time software, SprinkFDT, currently the only UL-listed software on the market for calculating dry-pipe sprinkler system activation times. New Jersey's Department of Labor and Industries inspects the safety of rides, such as roller coasters and ferris wheels. Eight people were killed and seven others were injured last night in a fire at a haunted house attraction at an amusement park in Jackson, N.J., according to authorities. Each of the two Haunted Castleattractions consisted of eight commercial truck trailers, connected by wood and plywood and containing a maze of passageways. The victims were believed to be teen-age visitors at the park - Six Flags Great Adventure - according to the Jackson Police Commissioner, Richard Borys. On May 11, 1984, eight teenage visitors were trapped in this attraction and lost their lives when the structure was destroyed by fire. Norma Quintana, Sam's mother, took dental records to the amusement park Saturday and afterward said her son was among the dead. The combination of the two really unnerved me.. The tragedy began as a happy outing. Fears Become Reality. [34][35][36][37], Immediately after the fire, several other New Jersey haunted house attractions were closed pending fire inspections, including the multi-trailer "Doorway to Hell" on Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, also built by Toms River Haunted House Company. Hurricane Harbor New Jersey Jackson, NJ. Great Adventure, New Jersey- Old Haunted House which caught fire and took 8 teenager's lives in May 1985. The guide rails for the waiting lines were left over from the previous ride that had been on the site, Alpen Blitz. 2018 - Harley Quinn Spinsanity: A 147-foot-tall pendulum ride that hits 70 mph. Locally, municipalities enforce state and local building codes governing fire safety and electrical wiring. An criminal investigation cleared the park of wrongdoing in the blaze, according to local reports. Now, the part of the park where the Haunted Castle was located, currently near The Dark Knight ride, has been closed off to the public, according to Smith. The Haunted Castle was a haunted attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson Township, New Jersey. However, industry sources were reporting that ensuing poor attendance almost caused the park to close in 1987. The original Haunted House was built prior to the fall "shoulder season"[1] of 1978 to boost attendance and as a test for building a larger facility the following year. She also said she had seen him heading toward the haunted house. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. In other words, I have an honest uncertainty as to whether sprinklers under these circumstances would have saved the lives. Furthermore, he said, considering the early stages at which the fire was discovered in this particular instance, the installation of smoke detectors or an alarm system would not have had an effect on the ultimate outcome.. He said he planned to make an announcement about the deaths to the 4,200 students this morning. He told the court that the requirement for smoke detectors had traditionally not been in places where people are awake and are capable of moving., Each individual, all of us, probably carry the two best smoke and heat detectors that there are, and thats our eyes, our ability to see fire, and more importantly, our nose and our ability to smell it, Schirmer said. In 20 minutes, the building looked burned down, one park visitor told reporters. ''I just thank God we all made it home. The ending had melted away. Bottom line: So far, at least, even with all their whiz-bang technology, Fairchild and Casterline cannot provide a definitive answer to the question, Would sprinklers have prevented eight teens from dying in the Haunted Castle in 1984? Its just as difficult to say if Schirmers opinion was wrong. Additional comment actions. The trial jury found the defendants not guilty of criminal charges;[2] however, Six Flags paid millions in civil damages to victims' families. First, Fleming noted that they assumed an exhaust fan would have taken the heat out of the compartment of origin for the first minute after the fire started until it failed. As the nine teenagers hid in a corner. To account for the exhaust fan in the area of origin, the heat release rate curve Fleming entered into DETACT assumed all of the heat was removed up to 100 seconds into the fire. He wanted to use state-of-the-art computer modeling to analyze the growth rate, potential sprinkler response times, water delivery times, maximum heat release rates, and tenability criteria of the fire to see if he could reach a definitive answer on the sprinkler question. Fleming was unable to model fire suppression, extinguishment, or control, but he did have a tool called DETACT-QSthe acronym refers to detector activationwhich computes heat detector (sprinkler) activation time based on the sprinkler response time index, temperature rating, and spacing, in concert with the heat release rate (HRR) and ceiling height. One parkgoer said: "Thick black smoke was billowing up.. ''Hey, Sammy,'' he called to his friend, Samuel Valentine, ''have a good time. Family-friendly Thrills by Day is NOON - 5 P.M, and Fright by Night monsters & scares begin after 5 P.M. Hurricane Harbor New Jersey. [citation needed], At the end of the 1978 season, the four trailers were taken away by the manufacturer and sent to Six Flags Over Mid-America (now known as Six Flags St. Louis) in Eureka, Missouri. Image Source. ''There's nothing I can tell them to make it easier. Schirmer himself wrote to Grant, stating that his opinion is and has been for many years that automatic sprinklers are the best life safety tools available and that he did not testify regarding detectors that they would not have saved the lives in the Castle., In fact, he wrote, the sense of his testimony was that installation of a dry-pipe automatic sprinkler system using conventional sprinklers in this particular building (with combustible walls and ceiling, the foam mat on the wall, and the ventilation fan at the ceiling) would not have, beyond a reasonable doubt, prevented the fire deaths. Six Flags Great Adventure is home to 14 world-class coasters, thrilling family rides and a 350-acre drive-thru safari right next door. . The Haunted Castle was a popular attraction at Six Flags. (Ocean County authorities reported no physical evidence of chained doors and dismissed such claims.) In the trial, the prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke/fire alarms had been ignored. New Jersey's biggest theme park announced in August its Halloween festivities would have a different name and look a little different than usual. Officials at the Franklin K. Lane High School said they believed that four of the other victims were friends of Mr. Valentine - three classmates at Lane and one from the Automotive High School in Queens. comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A . ''We drove quickly past Haunted Castle,'' he said. Heavy smoke kept the parks firefighters from advancing into the attraction, and a defensive attack was begun at the rear. New York City Board of Education, the State of New Jersey, Ocean County and Jackson Township were also included in the various suits. Fourteen, including four park employees, managed to escape. Six Flags Great Adventure and its parent company Six Flags were indicted for aggravated manslaughter and accused of recklessly causing the deaths by taking inadequate precautions against a fire. An all-new way to experience the park during Scream Break, April 14 - 23, with exclusive access to haunted attractions, some of your favorite thrilling coasters, exclusive food & drinks, and more! According to an investigation report prepared by John Bouchard, then assistant division director of NFPAs Engineering Services Division, the boy apparently continued through the Castle without notifying anyone of the problem. A facade of false turrets and towers lent the illusion of height to the one-story structure, completing the look of a forbidding medieval castle. [4] The lessee was responsible for the construction of a faade that would create the illusion of a haunted house. Six Flags Great Adventure. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The site in Jackson was cleared to make way for the Botanical Gardens. The catastrophe occurred in 1984, at the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. "Fire safety and evacuation plans are submitted, with trained employees and staff conducting fire drills in case of an emergency.". Unhappy Mother's Day, ''The most tragic thing is these kids died in a place they went to have fun,'' said the high school's principal, Morton Damesek, sitting in his Queens home. Just to the north of the bases was Jackson Township, home to Six Flags Adventure Park, where a fire in the Haunted Castle attraction killed eight teenagers on May 11, 1984. The simulation is run, and the algorithms in the model account for the various fire effectshydrodynamic, combustion, heat conduction, suppression, detection, and morethat influence each other. Be A Passholder. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Anyone can read what you share. [43], Smith also says that diagrams[6] of the castle and its exits used in the trial were inaccurate, and did not show a metal fence erected to protect actors from hostile guests, something that would have made escape more difficult, and was found at the scene. In their analysis, activation time depended in part on the properties of the foam and plywood, such as their density, hydration levels, the surface area of the foam, the wood species of the plywood, and more. They told the jury that after five years of semiannual inspections, the devices were not in place when the attraction burned down. See Holiday In The Park Dates . [citation needed], The Haunted House attraction had a gatekeeper stationed outside with a doorkeeper admitting visitors, while three or four monsters inside occupied various scenes or wandered around surprising and frightening groups of visitors. Brett Bodner: 732-643-4223; bbodner@gannett.com, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. A catastrophic fire - which saw flames "leaping 100 feet in the air" - killed eight teenagers and injured at least seven more. [7] During the subsequent criminal trial, the Jackson Township fire inspector testified that he had never inspected the castle. Attached to its exterior were painted turrets and towers of plywood on wooden frames intended to emulate a medieval faade. In fact, Schirmer would weather the storm and continue as chair of the Technical Committee on Automatic Sprinklers, a post he held from 1974 to 1997. Most of the suits were settled out of court, however, and Fleming does not know if the report played any role in negotiations. There was a string of deaths and accidents at Six Flags in the 80s - Action Park gets all the nostalgia "lol it's so dangerous" but Six Flags had a much worse reputation for . Smith's documentary, which won a "Best Research" award at the 2004 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, documents the fire, investigation and trial, and questions the official report's finding that the fire was accidental. [11] The lone survivor of the group was carried to safety by a park employee. Fleming reviewed his sprinkler application rate and water distribution pattern data, compared it to full-scale testing of a mobile home that had been allowed to burn to near flashover, and concluded that sprinkler discharge would have suppressed the fire. Anyone can read what you share. May 11, 1984: Eight teenage visitors were trapped and killed when the Haunted Castle attraction was destroyed by fire. ''I saw security guards running, and parents running and an incredible amount of smoke rising toward the sky,'' said Peter Berkery, a 22-year-old law student who saw the blaze. Four months after the fire, Great Adventure, Inc. and its parent company, Six Flags Corp., were charged by the state of New Jersey with aggravated manslaughter, as were two park managers. Trial by Fire The corridors were covered variously with wood, paper, and fabric, and one was covered with polyurethane foam. When the buses left the park at midnight, he conducted a head count. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Her group yelled "Fire!" Shortly after the fire began, park officials said all the injured and other park visitors had been evacuated safely from the building. Author(s): Kathleen Robinson. The foam-covered walls ignited, and the fire, fueled by the plywood and other materials, spread rapidly. Some encountered smoke and immediately headed for exits, while others thought it was a Haunted Castle effect; one group of visitors apparently saw the fire in its incipient stage and remarked how real the illusion seemed, according to Bouchards report. 8 PEOPLE KILLED, 7 HURT IN BLAZE AT THEME PARK, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/12/nyregion/8-people-killed-7-hurt-in-blaze-at-theme-park.html. Some mothers were crying. [27] A top fire-safety official testifying for the defense said that sprinklers and smoke detectors might have saved part of the structure, but would not have saved lives because by then "you would have had lethal combustion products throughout the facility" suffocating the victims. According to court testimony from 14-year-old Joey Iraca, a boy had accidentally set the fire by touching a lighter to the wall mat in the Haunted Castle. Along with computing capabilities immensely more powerful than Flemings, the pair was able to utilize a far more advanced modeling tool known as the fire dynamics simulator (FDS), software that could account for the interaction of numerous fire phenomena. A second juror disagreed, saying that township officials were not derelict. The fire would have been detected earlier and perhaps controlled to a tenable situation, he told the court. The work by Fairchild and Casterline is the latest chapter in a saga that began with the tragic deaths of eight young people on a spring evening in 1984. Admission is free with valid Pass or Membership. As author Peter Smith, who penned a book about the disaster, wrote: "Everyone who was at Great Adventure that day and anyone who lives around here will never forget that day, as long as they shall live.

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