Code changes prompted by the Haunted Castle fire were far-reaching, Despite the controversy around some of the trial testimony and the subsequent analysis of the fire, the Haunted Castle incident prompted several changes to, Read more about code changes prompted by the Haunted Castle fire, The Haunted Castle fire prompted several important changes to. But maybe not even then.. Frank McDonnell, a fire official for Jackson's Bureau of Fire Safety, was a 22-year-old volunteer for Jackson Fire Company 1 back in 1984. The fire broke out shortly before 6:30 p.m., when a 14-year-old boy who was using a lighter to find his way through the attraction accidentally walked into the polyurethane foam padding covering a wall and set it on fire. The prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke alarms had been ignored. 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 . At the trial, held in Toms River, New Jersey, in 1985, Chet Schirmer, president of Schirmer Engineering Corporation and chair of NFPAs Board of Directors as well as its Technical Committee on Automatic Sprinklers, set off a storm of controversy in the fire protection industry when he told the court that sprinklers would have saved the property but would not have saved the lives of the eight teenagers who died in the fire. Lake George, NY. A postcard of Haunted Castle, a popular attraction at Six Flags Adventure Park in New Jersey. 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. The trailers housed two separate Haunted Castle attractions, mirror images of each other, which operated simultaneously during peak times. ''We thought that was the extent of the injuries, that everyone had gotten out.'' ''Hey, Sammy,'' he called to his friend, Samuel Valentine, ''have a good time. Using the previously developed data and expert witness testimony to locate the sprinklers, Fleming calculated the dry-pipe sprinkler operating times. THE Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey was just like any other theme park on a spring day in 1984. The Six Flags Haunted Castle Disaster | A Short Documentary - YouTube As the nine teenagers hid in a corner. Trial by Fire "Drawings of the attraction are required, showing entrances/exits, electrical switches, circuit breakers, layout of the visitor path, location of alarm systems and manual pull stations, and the locations of fire extinguishers and telephones," he said. The Castles wood-frame faade featured arches and turrets, covered with sprayed and painted urethane foam, where visitors entered and exited. Norma Quintana, Sam's mother, took dental records to the amusement park Saturday and afterward said her son was among the dead. . Under cross-examination by the defense, the boy denied starting the fire himself. [4][40], Park attendance at Six Flags Great Adventure fell sharply for the rest of the year, finishing fifteen percent below the $3.3 million for the year preceding. Yesterday at the park was Family Christian Day, and as thousands attended the amusements, the investigators remained puzzled about what had caused the blaze. A catastrophic fire - which saw flames "leaping 100 feet in the air" - killed eight teenagers and injured at least seven more. The defendants denied any culpability, and contended that the fire was arson and that no precautions would have saved lives. You must have park admission and a Haunted House Add-On to visit our premium haunted houses. The other three were under 18 years of age, according to a hospital spokesman. AFTERMATH OF JERSEY FIRE: SCHOOL MOURNS THE DEAD, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/14/nyregion/aftermath-of-jersey-fire-school-mourns-the-dead.html. (Ocean County authorities reported no physical evidence of chained doors and dismissed such claims.) Great Escape. Saturday morning Mr. Damesek began calling the 33 homes. What was supposed to be a fun event for a group of teens quickly turned into a nightmare. But for the loved ones of a group of teens from New York City the day out would become the stuff of nightmares. Well never be able to replicate the exact conditions of that night 30 years ago, Casterline says. Then a sophomore told him that her older brother, a senior who was among the missing, would not have left without her. 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. According to the testimony of Joseph Iraca,. . But while they agree with Fleming that sprinkler control would have been effective, they found that the activation time was much more difficult to predict. In the trial, the prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke/fire alarms had been ignored. When the buses left the park at midnight, he conducted a head count. At five of the homes, students were missing. Dr. Corrigan said he would release the rest of the names today and tomorrow. Online exclusive: 33 Students Missing. It consisted of a series of darkened, convoluted passages meant to disorient visitors and was populated with displaysrat lady, hunchback, the spider room, and so onintended to scare them. They were said to have been found harboring near an air conditioning vent. NFPAs Bouchard, testifying on behalf of the prosecution, said that sprinklers or smoke alarms might have allowed the fire to be detected earlier, perhaps allowing the victims, none of whom was found in the room of fire origin, to escape. They are accused of ''reckless'' conduct in failing to. Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari | VisitNJ.org 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.. The answers lie somewhere in shades of gray. Immediate implications This tragic event highlighted serious issues for the park itself as well as the Jackson Township fire . Six Flags: Great Adventure - 1984 haunted house fire : r/newjersey - Reddit He tried to put the flames out, but failed. ,Actors dressed as witches and monsters jump out to frighten visitors. Those killed included eight teenagers from a group of nine that entered together. He died last year in North Carolina at the age of 84. Fairchild and Casterline modeled the exhaust fan directly into FDS. Its entire structure went up in flames when a foam padcaught alight, burning for more than an hour. comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A . "We have invested substantial resources in the safety of our operations and the training of our staff, and now we operate one of the safest family-entertainment facilities in the country," Fitzgerald said. 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. ''I'm going to be tongue-tied,'' he said. Incidents at Six Flags parks | Six Flags Wiki | Fandom In past years, the park unleashed the following attractions: 2019 - Cyborg Hyper Drive: A spinning ride in the dark with special effects.