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Speaking of Six Flags...an amusement ride accident:

Sun, Feb. 01, 2004

3 injured in fire at South Florida Fair
Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Three people were injured Sunday when a ride caught fire at the South Florida Fair.

A leak in the hydraulic system of the Orbiter caused oil to spill onto heated areas of the ride and spark flames, which were extinguished minutes later, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue officials said.

About 20 people were evacuated from the ride. Two of them sustained minor burns, including one whose eye was sprayed with hydraulic fluid. They were taken to Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, treated and released. A third person was treated at the fair.

"At first there was this ball engulfed in flames and people were just running from it, children, everyone," witness Teresa Grimail, 20, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Then the fire slowly crept its way down and ate up the whole Orbiter."

The ride, which spins passengers seated at the end of its rotating arms, was shut down. The fire is under investigation, officials said.

The Orbiter was manufactured by Tivoli, a European company, and will be inspected at the company's Texas factory, said Howard Pringle, director of operations with Conklin Shows Inc., the fair's main amusement ride contractor.

This wasn't the first accident at the South Florida Fair.

During the opening weekend, a man broke his arm on a roller-coaster ride, but state inspectors determined he failed to follow safety rules.

Last year, five people were slightly injured when a startled cow jumped a fence.

In 2002, a 13-year-old boy lost the tip of his finger while riding a mechanical bull. And in 2001, a toddler's thumb was cut off when the boy's hand got caught in the rotating turntable of a kiddie fun house.