What if...........

[pki2005]

This is kinda dumb but I would really like to know. What if there was like a fire or some natural dister and destored some of the rides. What do you think PKI would do? Would they rebuild the same ride that was there or just close the park. I have no clue and I would like to see what all you peeps think on the boards

[fyrfyter]

What if I crapped in my pants. Would I change them or would I go around smelling like sh*t?

Thats a good one.

Why would they have a fire? They have their own fire department on park property and Mason as well as Deerfield Fire & Rescue are both very close by. Like they are gonna close a park over one little incident. I am sure they would rebuild it, bigger and better than ever.

[PKICoasterFreek]

you guys c'mon, it is an interesting question!

Well, i know for sure Kiing's Island wouldn't close if they lost just one ride, but it the lost The Beast and a couple of their myore prized posetions , like the Eiffel Tower, then maybe they would close but really , I think if a fire happened i think they would worry more about the wooden rollercoaster more thatn the steel, first the are WOOD and second they are the some of the olded and most treasured rides in the park. I don't think the fire would hurt the steel ride much becuase , well they are mad of steel, but at high temperatures I'm sure it could do some damage. but they would probubly just repaint the steel coasters after they burntto touch um up.

I don't really know about the exact science of "ride burning", maybe fyrfyter could help us?

On the other hand, is there was an a very stong earthquake, PKI might be in for a rude awakening, becuase I know that the ride structures are to support under a small to moderate earthquake and they are to bend and givea little but if the was a bad one like and 8.0 or 9.0, then, well, there would be a mess!

[fyrfyter]

Alright, a little lesson in the science of fire.

First off, yes wooden coasters will burn, but obviously, it would take one heck of a fire. solid wood is a heck of a lot harder to burn, than say sawdust, and most of the wood at PKI in their coasters, I am sure is protected with some kind of protector. Most likely, the protector would make the wood harder to burn, instead of easier. Rolelr coaster wood is very dense, and is going to have a problem with burning very easily. I'm not gonna go through the whole burning process of wood and how it works, unless someone is dying to know. If you are themn PM me. Although there is a chance that a fire could occur, the simple fact that the stations and areas with brakes are the only places where major electrical wiring is on the ride. The other thing you will notice if you look around, is that all wooden strucutres at PKI, especially any of the coasters, have sprinkler heads and piping strung throughout them, so even if a fire did occur, it would most likely be confined or even extinguished by these systems.

On the opposite side of things, although metal coasters will not burn, they do pose a collapse hazard. Although the track will not burn, if the station were to catch fire and the sprinkler system did not stop it, or encountered a malfunction, every are of burned track would have to be replaced. just like other metals, when coaster track gets hot, it will expand. If it expands enough from intense heat, it can push out on its supports, or cause them to bend or break. (This happens a lot in residential homes, where the I beam supporting your house will take so much heat, it will expand a good 1 to 1.5 feet, and either push the walls out and cause collapse, or punch holes out the sides of the foundation.) Chances are, a Class A fire (wood, paper, other common combustibles) would be very hot and very intense very quickly, if it burned out of control. This is going to be the biggest hazard to steel coaster track, as it will expand as above. i would bet that anything burned like that in a coaster station, would most likely all be replaced by PKI and their insurerer.

Edited January 1, 1970 by fyrfyter

[murphz]

i have a better way to state a question that pki2005 is trying to say. A new example:

I have been to Cedar Point when there were 3 water spouts surrounding the park on Lake Erie. These happen sometimes. What if a tornado were to destroy part of PKI, or CP? Or any park? I think CP would lose the most from this, and would be easiest to demolish [because of high hills, etc].

[fyrfyter]

I think most rides would be fine even if a tornado did occur. Most structures that get destroyed by tornadoes are solid structures, you will notice. Not to say that it can't happen, but a weak tornado in a park where everything is open, including the support structures for rides, is probably going to fare much better when struck by a tornado, as it is made to vibrate and move some, whereas most homes and buildings are not designed this way.

[fryler87]

i have two words for you...BUSINESS INSURANCE.

granted the liquid value of the park is no less than a hundred million, there HAS to be some type of insurance involved, just like fire and flood insurance you can purchase for your house.

if the park is protected by business insurance it's not a lot (premiums would be too expensive) because of the low chance of natural disasters in ohio BESIDES TORNADOES.

it wouldn't surprise me to see a twister come extremely close to or go through pki due to the past problems cincinati/dayton has had with the weather.

[DegenRider]

I am sure the park has blueprints for all of the rides onsite anyways. Somthing did get destoryed it would be easy to rebuild.

[pki2005]

There has been a tornado about 10 minutes south of PKI I was going up there one year and saw the damage. It is quite sad to see all the destrion. Where would you go if there was a tornado at pki cause one year i was there there was a threat of one and they pack me and alot of other peeps in the shops on the path right after you enter the park and im sure thats not a good place to be when a torando is being close to being hit. Plus rember the SOB before it was done it fell over due to high winds? It wont take much to knock that over maybe 75 mph winds.,

[DegenRider]

The park has tornado locations. Restrooms are good places to go. Others are announced over the PA system.

[BoddaH1994]

As a firefighter myself, I can more or less back up everything that fyrfyter has said. Fire is a serious danger to all objects, even the steel coasters. For example, if the woods around The Vortex caught fire, it could drive up the heat to the point where the welds on the ride begin to crack. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to melt to destroy it or do serious damage. Objects expand and contract with heat, and there's no telling what extreme heat could do to parts of the ride under stress.

Would the close the park? Depends. If the park was leveled, they obviously would. I'm willing to say that if SOB were taken out, they'd close that whole part of AZ. I suppose they wouldn't want pictures of their mangled ride all over the internet. Unless there was some sort of hazard I'd say that they'd keep the park open.

Fyrfyter was right about them using thick wood. It is harder to ignite, but when you get that sucker cookin' it goes... I know they treat the wood to slow down the festering process, but I don't know what they do to make it flame retardant. You may notice going up the second lift hill of The Beast that there is a fire extinguisher about every 10 feet. I think they alternate between being class A and ABC. Class A being made for things like trash fires (it's basically a water canister) and ABC being a normal extinguisher which can put out anything but a metallic fire.

[pki2005]

The park has tornado locations. Restrooms are good places to go. Others are announced over the PA system.

Are they underground cause in my mind being underground is the only safe place.

[DanielRadsgrl]

That's because your dumb. lol im only kidding. no but i ve been in a tarnodo (not servere) in my bathroom i live in a apt. and no basement and im alive i think? so thats a safe spot.

[Stitch]

Well If a disaster hit PKI and only severly damaged some rides Im sure the par would be open in a couple of days but if the damage was exstensive then they would close for a while to get themselves back up and running.

[SOB_TOM]

Whats nice is that I work in a tornado location

Heres how I would imagine PKI doing a tornado:

PA: Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. At this time, the National Weather Service has alerted us to a tornado in the area of the park. We ask that you please seek shelter inside one of the shops, or ask an employee where the nearest tornado shelter is. Once again.....(repeats statement)

Ride Ops: stop rides (if not doneso already), evacuate area, go to tornado location

After tornado:

Closed down damaged areas of park, make sure noone was hurt. From there on, its a tossup

[murphz]

If several of their good rides were destroyed, do you think they'd still try and rebuild as a good amusement park? Or would they just take it easy and make smaller rides? With all the Paramount parks they may just become one of the smaller ones....Interesting to think about.

[fyrfyter]

Whats nice is that I work in a tornado location

Heres how I would imagine PKI doing a tornado:

PA: Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please. At this time, the National Weather Service has alerted us to a tornado in the area of the park. We ask that you please seek shelter inside one of the shops, or ask an employee where the nearest tornado shelter is. Once again.....(repeats statement)

Ride Ops: stop rides (if not doneso already), evacuate area, go to tornado location

After tornado:

Closed down damaged areas of park, make sure noone was hurt. From there on, its a tossup

This is fine and all, but I would expect PKI to have some really advanced notice, if a Tornado is on the gorund and remotely close to the park. I am sure the park is tapped into NWS and NOAA for weather updates. I would bet with a tornado on the ground, PKI most likely would get anywhere from 5-15 minutes advanced notice, giving them enough time to evacuate all rides, and get everyone in a safe location.

Not all tornado safe locations have to be underground. You just have to be in a protected structure, that is designed to handle the winds from a tornado. Out of everything at PKI I would expect the caosters and rides to make it, over the buildings in the park. THe reason is, jtornadoes cause differences in pressure, which in enclosed structures, makes them collapse and such.

In coasters and rides they are big and open, so that the winds can make the pressure the same. Although some things might get broken, or another F4 or F5 tornado, like the last one Cincy had might destroy everything, I would say after it is all said and done, the rides would most likely be in the best shape.

As far as the park opening after something like this. bare minimum would most likely be 1-2 months. Considering even with minor damage, the park is going to inspect every ride and every strucutre, and any ride that is broken, will most likely be dismatled to make sure that is the only problem with the ride. I would expect PKI to bring in outside firms, like the ones that built the coasters, that way they could check them, and dismantle and reassemble them as needed with more speed than if PKI did it all themselves.

[pki2005]

I guess with that amount of people you can only do some much. Its kinda like first come first serve.

[Losing Streak]

There's nothing they can do though if the tornado goes down on the ground right in the middle of PKI. No 5-15 minutes of warning. None of that.

[TheRickster]

Tornado warnings are issued b4 a funnel cloud is seen. I believe a forest fire would be the worst issue for pki. Especially for The Beast and sob. No matter how much you treat the wood The Beast is still out there in the middle of the woods (which is what makes it so great but with tree's burning around it itll eventually light up and burn. If a forrest fire did happen just the stuff on the outside would be damaged I dont think it would work itsway into the park. Pki would open as soon as they could safely no matter what happened. People would come if every coaster was torn down still. So especially if something happened youll need every bit of money you can get. Plus with southern ohio being right on a fault line and never having earthquakes we are someday going to get the big one. But when that happens its gonna mess up ALOT of stuff.

[BoddaH1994]

Plus with southern ohio being right on a fault line and never having earthquakes we are someday going to get the big one. But when that happens its gonna mess up ALOT of stuff.

I totally agree. Once the "big one" hits, the park is soo done for. Even the rides left standing would have cracked footers and foundations. Definately not a safe situation.

[TheRickster]

Man talk about awesome video footage...... sob is just gonna shake and collapse that would be a EXTROIDNARY site to see hopefully itll happen when the park is closed. Since we dont have regular earthquakes tho its just building up waiting to go.....

[fyrfyter]

Plus with southern ohio being right on a fault line and never having earthquakes we are someday going to get the big one. But when that happens its gonna mess up ALOT of stuff.

I totally agree. Once the "big one" hits, the park is soo done for. Even the rides left standing would have cracked footers and foundations. Definately not a safe situation.

We are in fine shape. Cincinnati gets earthquakes all the time, they just aren't huge, which is a good thing for two reasons. Smaller quakes are relieving the pressure so that the big one doesn't occur. We usually get several smaller quakes per year, and they usually happen in the middle of the night. nothing too terrible, just a little shaking. I don't thinkw e will see the big one in any of our lifetimes. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't see any triggering mechanism to prove otherwise. I just don't think its gonna happen. This isn't California, and we don't sit on a oh my god active major fault line.

[BoddaH1994]

That is incorrect. We do sit over a major fault line. It's simply underground as of now. Yes, this area has small earthquakes just like any other area near a fault line, we just haven't had a major one yet. Equating the fact that we have not had a major earthquake in a long time, and the idea that it's not going to happen is totally inaccurate as well. The earthquakes releive a major amount of stress on the techtonic plates which the smaller quakes can't handle.

[pki2005]

Is there away to predict earthquakes?

[stewwill]

My company recently had a very severe lightning strike. It totally destroyed all of our electronic equipment. All of our equipment was replaced AND we had business interuption insurance. That will reimburse you for all lost revenue until you can get back to business. You can be sure, no matter what disaster struck PKI, that have enough of every type of insurance to replace any destroyed building or ride. They might have to close the park for reconstruction for a period but PKI is such a money maker, it would return. if you can remember the Coney Island days like I can, floods made a commplete mess of the park many, many times. the original oweners couldn't even get flood insurance. But Coney Island, except for a few rare exceptions, opened on time and ready to go. PKI would return. No doubt.

Stewwill