First responders rescue riders, mostly children, stuck on Adventureland Wave Twister in East Farmingdale

Adventureland Amusement Park opened as usual Saturday, a day after firefighters and police rescued 16 people, all but one of them children, who were stuck on a ride Friday evening. 

The Wave Twister ride will be out of service for the time being, the East Farmingdale park announced the night before.

Firefighters, who came on the scene about 8 p.m. Friday, used a cherry picker and ladder trucks to reach two circular cars about 50 feet in the air on the track of the Wave Twister ride. They then unbuckled and brought down each passenger. 

The last child was safely rescued shortly after 10:30 p.m., more than three hours after the ride stopped. Parents applauded and cheered for the children as they were lowered to the ground.

The rescuers placed a harness on riders as they were taken down. The children were screened by police and fire paramedics and then led out of the park and reunited with their parents.

Six fire departments, including East Farmingdale, were involved in the rescue, as well as Suffolk County Police Emergency Services Unit officers.

There were no initial reports of injuries. Suffolk police said those rescued included a 5-year-old with a 40-year-old parent, while the rest were children from 8 to 12 years old.

James Quinn Jr., chief of the East Farmingdale Fire Department, led the rescue as part of a specialized training unit known as a technical rescue matrix with members of the West Babylon and Amityville Village fire departments.

He said in an interview Saturday the ride was stuck “in the worst possible spot” based on accessibility and the ride's position in a high point of the track between two valleys.

“The only access we had to it were our ladder trucks, and at one point it was the farthest point from their fence line and we were able to gain access from the parking lot next door,” he said.

The first nine people in the lower part of the ride were brought down within about an hour, the chief said.

But those riders exiting “kind of threw the ride off balance a little bit,” he said, requiring the top half to be chained and secured before the remaining riders could be extricated.

“We didn’t want the thing to go and spin on itself,” he said.

He said it appeared the brakes locked up on the ride but he didn't have additional information on the precise cause of the malfunction. 

One mother waited in the parking lot as she watched firefighters rescue her daughter and two friends who were stuck for more than two hours. Heather Bernard, of West Islip, said the kids rode the ride once before and got back on at 6:30 p.m., after it had run empty.

She said her daughter was panicking. "They ran the ride twice empty and then they got on," Bernard said. "That's when it stopped."

Chanelle Bonnard, of Manhattan, said her two 9-year-old girls were stuck on the ride as firefighters climbed a ladder to help them down.

She said the ride had broken earlier in the day, and the riders in the evening were stuck for about 40 minutes before a parent called the fire department.

"We don't know how they're picking which kids to come down. The park isn't saying anything to the parents at all," Bonnard said. "They're scared and kids are crying up there. They had enough time to cry, stop and start crying again."

All wore safety harnesses on the ride, but their feet were dangling. Several ambulances, police and firefighters waited in the parking lot. 

Mark L. Smith, a park spokesman, said the ride will be closed until further notice.

"For more than 60 years, Adventureland has enjoyed a proud record of safety and guest satisfaction. We understand the concern of the riders and their families who were involved today, and we will be working with our ride consultants to fully assess what happened," he said in a statement. "Until further review that ride will not be in service. We appreciate the dedication of the many first responder departments who skillfully assisted in getting our guests off the ride."

The ride, which debuted in April, is part of phase two of a $10 million, five-phase plan to redevelop a back area of the East Farmingdale park called Legacy Corner. Ten riders sit in each of two circular cars as the cars ride along a track that simulates ocean waves.

The ride had been delayed for a year from when it was first announced.

Riders must be at least 48 inches tall, or 36 inches if they ride with an adult, the Adventureland website says.

Newsday's Joe Werkmeister contributed to this story.

CORRECTION: The number of people rescued from the ride has been updated from a previous version of this story.