The students were stuck more than 100 feet in the air Thursday night for hours. Pleasure Pier now has a better idea of why it happened.
GALVESTON, Texas — It was a frightening scene in Galveston Thursday night as Galveston fire crews safely rescued eight HISD students who were stuck on a roller coaster more than 100 feet in the air.
Editor’s note: Video above is from a previous report.
The students were stuck on the Iron Shark on Galveston’s Pleasure Pier, some for up to four hours. We’re now hearing from a firefighter who helped get them down. He said even though the kids were frantic, they were brave.
As for the car they were stuck in, it remained near the top of the ride until around 1 p.m. Friday. Soon after, it made its way down empty and is actively being inspected. The Galveston Fire Department said they train on this ride every year, but never expected a rescue like this.
The passengers on the ride were HISD middle school students there for a field trip. The ride got stuck around shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday. Firefighters rescued the last one four hours later under dark skies. When firefighters got the call, they planned on using the Pier’s lift to rescue the students, but that also didn’t work, so they had to pivot, bringing in the ladder truck.
Each student was meticulously strapped into a harness, tethered to the bucket and carried out of their seats. Firefighters say the kids’ natural reaction was to pull the lock bar over them tighter, as a result, many of their legs went numb.
“When we got up there, it felt like it was the hottest part of the day,’ said Captain John Ferrington with the Galveston Fire Department. “They were really brave kids. They were super receptive. They followed directions very well. So, that actually helped us a lot so when we gave them commands or instructed them to do something, they were willing to help.”
The final student presented another challenge for first responders.
“We actually had to move him multiple seats because we couldn’t get the basket any closer so he was pretty frantic at that point,” Ferrington said.
Ferrington also said the length of the rescue presented dangers.
“It’s called rescue fatigue, being up there for hours,” he said. “We try to switch out guys and try to keep them fresh.”
Fire Chief Mike Varela praised the crew after the rescue wrapped up Thursday night, calling it a textbook response to a high-risk, low-frequency event.
“Those guys were top notch today, on point, and got all eight down,” Varela said. “They’re well trained and they’re ready to go when called on.”
In an updated statement to KHOU 11, Pleasure Pier said the ride was in service all day without any issues, but pointed to a sensor issue leading to the malfunction.
Andy Alexander, Vice President of Pleasure Pier, released the following statement on Friday, giving a little insight into what may have caused the issues.
“The ride was in service all day without any issues, unfortunately this was a situation where a sensor failed, causing the malfunction that was undetectable in advance of this incident. Most importantly, the safety feature on the ride worked as designed, and the 8 passengers were evacuated safely without injury thanks to the help of the Galveston Fire Department. The ride will only be placed back in service once we have completed a thorough investigation and ride safety testing is completed, to which we do not have a definitive timeline for just yet.”
The fire department typically uses training like this for rescues over the Seawall. They suspect this is a once-in-a-career type rescue.
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