The Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure was a haunted attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson Township, New Jersey. On May 11, 1984, a fire destroyed the attraction, trapping and killing eight teenagers. ''We thought that was the extent of the injuries, that everyone had gotten out.'' He said that the cause of the blaze was being investigated by the Ocean County Arson Squad and the New Jersey State Police Arson Squad, and that they would probably not have preliminary findings before Monday. Some mothers were crying. The old faade was torn down and Botanical Gardens took its place. 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. The fire and its aftermath Fairchild wasnt alonethe Haunted Castle fire struck a chord with a lot of people. 1984 Great Adventures Haunted House Fire - Find a Grave During slow times only one side of the attraction would be used. 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. (Ocean County authorities reported no physical evidence of chained doors and dismissed such claims.) The chairman of the New Jersey Fire Safety. We were hoping to find a smoking gun, but there doesnt appear to be one. Read the original NFPA investigation report on the Haunted Castle fire (PDF, 2.2 MB). TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. A report on the tragedy released by the National Fire Protection Association said the structure was made of 17 interconnected commercial trailers and plywood frames. 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. (Only one side was operating the night of the fire.) Then a sophomore told him that her older brother, a senior who was among the missing, would not have left without her. The defendants denied any culpability. 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. At about 6 P.M. Friday, he recalled, he was walking with a walkie-talkie, keeping in touch with other school officials. Various theatrical props and exhibits were in view, including coffins, ghoulish mannequins, hanging spider webs and skeletons. Glenn Vallach, a spokesman for the park, said no new evidence had been found. Doorway to Hell (2003) Fan-Made Documentary about the Six Flags Great Adventure Haunted Castle Fire. Thirty years ago, a day of fun turned into a day of terror and tragedy. As Low As $14.99 Buy Now JACKSON For more than four decades, people have gone to Six Flags Great Adventure for a day of fun, riding roller coasters, playing boardwalk-style games and taking part in other amusements. Mr. Valentine, described by his friends as a quiet and studious senior who dreamed of becoming a lawyer, never returned to the bus that night. The fire, which began at 6:35 P.M. in an attraction called the Haunted Castle, was brought under control at 7:45 P.M. On the 11th of May, 1984, a fire began inside the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. ''Hey, Sammy,'' he called to his friend, Samuel Valentine, ''have a good time. Fright Fest is back at The Great Escape | October 2 - Six Flags 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. Were still studying it, he says. They can be found in Chapter 12, New Assembly Occupancies, and Chapter 13, Existing Assembly Occupancies, in the current edition of the Life Safety Code. Six Flags took it over in late 1977. The Castles wood-frame faade featured arches and turrets, covered with sprayed and painted urethane foam, where visitors entered and exited. The Haunted Castle was a popular attraction at Six Flags. The cause of death for the eight was later determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation. 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. We thought it would be interesting to look at this again, considering the improvements in modeling over the past 30 years, says Casterline. 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. Six Flags Darien Lake Buffalo, NY. 8 Killed by Smoky Fire In Park's 'Haunted Castle' The prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke alarms had been ignored. Six Flags: Great Adventure - 1984 haunted house fire : r/newjersey - Reddit 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. Goodbye Fright Fest, hello Hallowfest. A park official testified that having an employee assigned to walk continually through the attraction was a good alternative to the smoke alarms. [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. The one survivor later said they had thought the smoke was part of the amusement. He said he planned to make an announcement about the deaths to the 4,200 students this morning. Fright Fest Haunted Attractions | Six Flags Great Escape Great Adventure Inc. and its parent company, the Six Flags Corporation of Chicago, are on trial on charges of aggravated manslaughter. Schirmer also told the court that smoke and heat detectors would not have been of any particular value in this building. (For more on Schirmers testimony and NFPAs reaction, visit the story online at nfpa.org/hauntedcastle.). All lived in the nearby neighborhoods of Cypress Hills and Ridgewood in Brooklyn. A number of association members and other organizations wrote to then-NFPA President Robert Grant expressing their concern about Schirmers reported remarks. Cypress Hills Cemetery. The other three were under 18 years of age, according to a hospital spokesman. The prosecution called as witnesses fire-prevention consultants who had inspected the castle, and who had recommended the installation of sprinklers or smoke alarms. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. As the nine teenagers hid in a corner. New Jersey's biggest theme park announced in August its Halloween festivities would have a different name and look a little different than usual. The corridors were covered variously with wood, paper, and fabric, and one was covered with polyurethane foam. The 17-year-old junior watched his classmates at Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn board the buses to the New Jersey park on Friday morning. They further testified that their pleas for safety precautions had been rejected by management as too expensive. 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. . But for the loved ones of a group of teens from New York City the day out would become the stuff of nightmares. It was intended as a test for a more substantial attraction that was to be built the following year. The catastrophe occurred in 1984, at the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Archived post. Seven were found in the same corridor. ''There's nothing I can tell them to make it easier. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the fire that took the lives of eight teenagers trapped inside the Haunted Castle attraction on May 11, 1984. At the trial, the jury ruled that Great Adventure Inc. and Six Flags Corp. were not guilty. To determine the impact of sprinkler control on life safety, Fleming again referred to test data and concluded that, if flashover had been prevented, life-threatening conditions would not have developed in areas remote from the fire, such as those where the eight fatalities had been discovered. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and An additional trailer housed the control room, which included the electrical panels for the attraction and two pressurized-water fire extinguishers. FDS is known as a field model, where all physical objects, including obstructions, vents, fans, and persons, are entered into the model and given appropriate properties. The amusement park and the safari area in which 2,000 animals roam free in a 500-acre preserve attract millions of visitors each year. [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. "At first the smoke was coming out of the top, and then it began to pour out of the haunted house front door. The attraction also included emergency lighting that would illuminate the interior if the power failed. [11], On September 14, 1984, a grand jury in Toms River, New Jersey, indicted Six Flags Great Adventure and its parent company, Six Flags, on a charge of aggravated manslaughter, for "recklessly causing the deaths under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life". A medieval-styled faade was built for the Haunted Castle on the site of the Alpen Blitz across from the Muzik Express. Six Flags Great Adventure Haunted Castle fire changed safety forever Hurricane Harbor New Jersey. '', See the article in its original context from. Six Flags haunted castle fire remembered 30 years later - Courier-Post ''We were so naive,'' said the principal. Its entire structure went up in flames when a foam padcaught alight, burning for more than an hour. After crossing a drawbridge over the surrounding moat, visitors entered the castle and felt their way along a 450-foot (140m)-long convoluted path of dim corridors, occasionally being startled when employee actors dressed as mummies, vampires and other creatures jumped from hiding. Flemings models, by comparison, could accommodate only one fire phenomena variable at a time. In FDS, the water delivery time included a programmed delay based on the times produced by SprinkFDT. The chairman of the New Jersey Fire Safety Commission, State Senator John Caufield, Democrat of Essex, said yesterday he would order a special public hearing into the fire and the deaths. He said they were comforting each other and talking about a single funeral for all five teen-agers. Peak attendance would cause the park to open both sides, allowing thousands of visitors to enjoy the attraction. Flashover occurred three and a half minutes after the fire began, according to the investigation report, and soon the entire attraction was engulfed in flames.
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