Fair reports a second accident

Deepa Bharath

State officials are investigating a second accident at the Orange

County Fair that happened Sunday hours after another woman was

injured on a different ride.

The second accident occurred on the Booster ride at about 10 p.m.

-- roughly nine hours after a 30-year-old woman was hurt on the

Adrenaline Drop. The rides are next to each other.

Fair officials said Thursday that a 23-year-old woman was hurt

riding the Booster when a 5-inch metal pin came loose and struck her

in the face.

The fair staff offered the victim first aid, but she chose to ride

with her friend to the hospital instead of going in the ambulance,

said Becky Bailey-Findley, the fair’s president and chief executive.

Bailey-Findley said the Booster ride closed Sunday after the

accident and wasn’t reopened until after a state Division of

Occupational Safety and Health inspector looked at it. An inspector

already at the fairgrounds on Monday to look at the Adrenaline Drop

checked it out, she said.

Aidyl Sofia-Gonzalez left the hospital on crutches one day after

the Adrenaline Drop’s nets failed to break her freefall. On that

attraction, riders fall from a trapdoor 110 feet in the air

untethered by bungee cords or harnesses. That ride remains closed and

under investigation, but the Booster is up and running as it has been

since Tuesday, the day after it was reportedly fixed.

State officials said they initially believed ride operators failed

to report the injury on time, but admitted on Thursday that it was a

misunderstanding. The operator, who under the state’s labor code is

required to inform state officials if an injured fairgoer has to go

to the hospital, told the inspector at the fairgrounds on Monday

morning, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the division, or Cal/OSHA.

“Usually we like them to report it immediately,” he said. “They

could have called our answering service that same night. But the way

they reported it is acceptable to us because it happened late at

night.”

Bailey-Findley said it was more convenient for the inspector to

look at the Booster because he was there anyway to inspect the

Adrenaline Drop.

“The requirement is to report the incident within 24 hours, and we

did that,” she said. “We not only reported it, but we took the state

inspector right then and there to the ride and had him inspect it.”

The Booster is a thrill ride that consists of a 131-foot column

that rotates while carrying four passengers at the end of each arm.

The passenger cars spin as the beam rotates at about 52 mph.

At least three people who rode the Booster on Thursday said they

had no knowledge of Sunday’s incident, but that they would have

ridden it even if they had heard about it.

“It’s a rush,” said George Casper of Philadelphia. “I might have

thought twice about it, but I would have gone anyway. You don’t go on

these rides to think about them.”

Allison Chervenak and Rachael Rutter, both visiting from Auburn,

Calif., said they rode the Booster last year and didn’t want to miss

out this year.

“It’s awesome how high it goes and how it swoops down,” said

Chervenak, her face still flushed from the ride.

Rutter said she felt secure riding the Booster.

“It has a belt and the safety bars, which made it OK,” she said.

San Juan Capistrano resident Rose Goodwin, who was observing the

ride, said she would feel more comfortable sending her grandchildren

on the ride now than before the incident.

“It’s probably safer now that they’ve fixed it,” she said. “They

would probably be more careful, too, because I’d imagine they would

be under a lot of scrutiny.”

State officials say the investigation into the Booster is by no

means over. Fryer said he has been trying to get in touch with the

victim to determine the extent of her injuries.

“The ride operator reported to us that she got a cut,” he said.

“But we’ve heard that she suffered a lot more injuries. Following

that, we may need to take a closer look at this incident.”

The family of the victim on Thursday declined in a phone

conversation to discuss the incident.

Rick Achard, a ride inspector for the fair, said all rides are

inspected every day.

“We check all rides just as the manufacturer wants us to do it,”

he said. “And the rides have to run three times before they are

opened up to the public.”

Achard said the eight pins holding a sign on the Booster have been

replaced. A different kind of pin now holds the eight together, he

said.

Achard said it is difficult to determine which variety of pin is

the safest to use for a ride.

“The pin we were using was safe, but it wasn’t safe enough,” he

said. “It’s something you only learn from experience and being out

there.”

No other ride in the fair has a similar construction, but

inspectors will be looking at all the rides even more closely, he

said.

Bailey-Findley assured the public that the fair’s rides are all

safe. She said last year at the fair, 49 injuries were reported, 22

of which occurred on rides. None of those required the injured to be

taken to the hospital, Bailey-Findley said.

“We had 1.8 million [people] go on our rides last year,” she said.

“I would not hesitate to have my child ride the rides.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].