Two dozen people are stranded on a roller coaster at Great America theme park after the Invertigo ride broke down before 1:30 p.m. today.
Shortly after 3 p.m., an aerial truck from the San Jose Fire Department was in place to rescue the riders. The truck has a ladder with a basket that can reach a height of 110 feet, according to Scott Kouns, a spokesman for the San Jose Fire Department.
Although riders are sometimes upside down on Invertigo, the riders are stuck right-side up, at an incline. They top rider is perhaps 70 feet high.
Kouns said it could take a couple of hours to bring down the 24 riders. Members of the department's vertical rescue team must release each rider manually from the safety harness that keeps them in place. Each harness has two pins that firefighters must release, according to Kouns.
While the theme park is in Santa Clara, that fire department doesn't have the equipment for such a rescue. So Santa Clara called San Jose fire to help out.
Kouns said the San Jose Fire Department was contacted at 1:30 p.m. and that an aerial truck was requested.
A short time later another request was made, this time for members of the fire department's Urban Search and Rescue Team, or USAR 5, to perform a high-angle rescue, Kouns said.
video
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6958238
Shortly after 3 p.m., an aerial truck from the San Jose Fire Department was in place to rescue the riders. The truck has a ladder with a basket that can reach a height of 110 feet, according to Scott Kouns, a spokesman for the San Jose Fire Department.
Although riders are sometimes upside down on Invertigo, the riders are stuck right-side up, at an incline. They top rider is perhaps 70 feet high.
Kouns said it could take a couple of hours to bring down the 24 riders. Members of the department's vertical rescue team must release each rider manually from the safety harness that keeps them in place. Each harness has two pins that firefighters must release, according to Kouns.
While the theme park is in Santa Clara, that fire department doesn't have the equipment for such a rescue. So Santa Clara called San Jose fire to help out.
Kouns said the San Jose Fire Department was contacted at 1:30 p.m. and that an aerial truck was requested.
A short time later another request was made, this time for members of the fire department's Urban Search and Rescue Team, or USAR 5, to perform a high-angle rescue, Kouns said.
video
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6958238
