By Shawn J. Soper, News Editor
Originally published July 30, 2010

OCEAN CITY – The Tidal Wave roller coaster in the Trimper’s Amusement Park at the foot of the Boardwalk remained dark this week, as state and private sector inspectors continued to sort out what caused an accident that injured three children last Thursday.

Around 9:30 p.m. last Thursday, Ocean City Police and Fire Department units were dispatched to the area of Trimper’s Rides on the south end of the Boardwalk for what was initially reported as a structure fire. However, when police and fire crews arrived, they learned there was not a fire but, instead, an amusement park ride accident involving the Tidal Wave roller coaster.

Police and fire crews determined the Tidal Wave had malfunctioned causing a steel cable to break, which, in turn, created sparks and smoke that initially led them to believe a fire had occurred. As a result of the ride malfunction, three children, between the ages of 10 and 15 years old, sustained injuries and were transported by Ocean City paramedics to area hospitals with undisclosed injuries, none of which appeared to be life threatening.

According to amusement park Operations Manager Brooks Trimper, the Tidal Wave’s built-in safety features did what they were designed to do when a malfunction was detected and the resulting cable breakage was an accidental side effect.

“Essentially, there was a mechanical malfunction that the ride’s computer recognized, and when that happens, all of the ride’s safety features kick in and want to stop the ride abruptly,” he said. “The ride stops itself at all costs, and when that happened, a cable broke.”

Police, fire and ambulance crews responded to the scene and blocked off the area immediately surrounding the park while the source of the accident was inspected and the injured were taken care of. As a result, traffic in the downtown area around the park was clogged during a peak time on a peak summer night in the season.

The Tidal Wave was closed indefinitely as inspectors began to explore what had caused the malfunction. However, the rest of the park including its many famous attractions remained open. The Tidal Wave was still closed as of yesterday, as the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s Division of Labor and Industry, which oversees amusement park safety in Maryland, continued its inspections.

The state is conducting its inspection and investigation, while the ride’s manufacturer has sent its own inspectors to investigate what happened. According to Trimper, those inspections are going on concurrently with the park’s own inspectors and maintenance crews involved. Even after the state and manufacturer have concluded their investigations and signed off on the repairs, the park will do an independent third and final inspection before the ride is re-opened.

“We’re going to go above and beyond what is required to make sure this ride is safe,” he said. “Nothing in the world is perfect, but we want to do everything we can to make sure this can’t and won’t happen again.”

All of the rides and attractions in the park are inspected by the state in the beginning of the season when they are put up, and are inspected again at the end of the season when they are taken down. While the Tidal Wave, and some of the other more permanent rides, is not completely disassembled each year, the train cars are taken apart and removed, as are many of the working parts.

Trimper said the park has a nearly spotless safety record after a century on the south end of the Boardwalk and said he and the family regretted the unfortunate accident last week that injured the three youths.

“We’ve been there so long and we haven’t had anything more than a broken arm or some bumps and bruises in 100 years,” he said. “We’re very happy and very fortunate the injuries weren’t more serious. We’re sorry it happened and we’re sorry for those kids and their families.”

Trimper said the mechanical malfunction that caused the ride to shut down abruptly, which resulted in the broken cable, was not an error the park’s daily inspection of the ride would have picked up on.

“It was a freak accident,” he said. “It wasn’t something we even had the possibility to detect.”

The Tidal Wave will remain closed as state, the ride’s manufacturer and the Trimper’s staff continued their inspections and the appropriate repairs to the ride. Trimper said he was uncertain just how long the famous roller coaster would remain dark, but did say every precaution was being taken to prevent a similar accident in the future.

In the meantime, Trimper said despite the unfortunate accident involving the Tidal Wave last week, the rides in the park and similar rides in the resort and across the country have remarkable safety records.

“The amusement industry is incredibly safe,” he said. “We have a rigorous testing program in place and we conduct inspections of every ride and attraction in this park everyday.”

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