Blackout causes Royal Show crowd chaos

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Hurricane
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Blackout causes Royal Show crowd chaos

Post by Hurricane »

A BLACKOUT plunged the Royal Adelaide Show into darkness for almost half an hour, leaving frightened showgoers trapped on rides and causing chaos on the Show's opening night.

The power supply failed across the showground at 7.45pm, with only the Jubilee and Goyder pavilions, on Goodwood Rd, remaining lit.
State Emergency Service crews had just begun evacuating main arena stands while ferris wheel operators were retrieving people from carriages when the power was restored at about 8.10pm.

Terry Nicholas, 15, of Ascot Park, said he was on the Space Roller ride when it stopped suddenly.
"I wasn't too worried but there were some girls and young kids who were crying and screaming," he said. "They slowly got us down. I was pretty high in the air."

Showgoers said sideshow alley was in total darkness with the exception of the ghost train, which has its own generator. It cornered the market on rides for the duration of the 25-minute blackout.

Show marketing manager Michelle Hocking said she could not comment on reports that people who left the showground because of the blackout were refused re-entry by security staff. She said refunds would be considered on a case-by-case basis, but they were "highly unlikely" because the blackout had lasted less than half an hour.

"It was very orderly. It was only a partial blackout," she said.

"Everyone was very calm and we had emergency services and show staff standing by."

She said the blackout was a "first" and that staff had got the night's schedule, including fireworks, back on track.

"Most people have stayed on and the program has continued on as scheduled," she said.

The showground's electricity supply had two incoming circuit breakers. "One of them tripped which is probably a good thing," Ms Hocking said.

"ETSA are looking into it and we won't know the cause until they do a report."

Sideshow alley ticket seller Terry Jones said patrons were "pretty calm".

"We got most of the people off before the lights went out," he said.

Deb Scory, of Whyalla, said people aboard the Speed ride were suspended high in the air from its extended arm.

After the lights and power failed, the ride completed two full rotations in the dark, prompting screams from those on board. Showgoer Debbie Greenfield said she had to leave early with her family. "We were told that people were stuck upside down on some of the rides," she said.

"We were in the main arena and we just thought we'd get out of here before there's a panic."

There had been no reports of injuries.

About 15 minutes behind schedule, the massed pipe band entered the main arena to thunderous cheers.

The audience could catch only glimpses of the band as it marched across the beams of a vehicle's headlights.

The fireworks display went ahead as scheduled.

SOURCE: News.com.au
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ozshowkid
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Post by ozshowkid »

Funny how things get blown out of proportion by the media, there was never a kid on the Space Roller when the power went, and nor was there any screaming from customers. The ride was really high though maybe 8 ft at the most, not evan up enough to start the ride spinning. Every ride had got its customers off in a matter of 15 minutes at the most. No one was ever in any danger from any thing, maybe a good view of the fireworks thats about it.

Cheers OZshowkid
come one, come all, come in its time for a showtime spin
Hurricane
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Post by Hurricane »

Exactly, it's just amusing to see how much they blow it out of proportion. I have been stuck on Insanity before for around 25 minutes and there was a kid on it next to me. They were scared, but never paniced because we were secure in our seats and we knew that they were doing everything they could do to get us down.

The only thing I would not like about being stuck on Space Roller would be if the operator had stapled me in as it would hurt in certain places. It's good to hear from someone who actually wittnessed / was involved in the goings on to clarify just what actualy happened. When I heard that evacuations took that long I knew it wasn't right. Showies are often very quick at dealing with those sort of situations.

Cheers for clearing it all up for us Oz.
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Top Gunner14
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Post by Top Gunner14 »

Yes, thanks Oz, a real witness who tells the truth from the showmen's side of things. The media does make the power outage sound like it was real chaos and twice as worse from what it really was. And geez, 8ft in the air is so high, that would give me a fear of heights for the rest of my life :roll:
princess
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Post by princess »

The media in Adelaide, want to sell papers, (funny that), so any problems at the show, will be a major one, considering the past events, surrounding Adelaide.

As far as power in Adelaide, is there something wrong with their supply, if you recall, that some rides last year were closed down due to power problems, not the showmens fault, but they wore the brunt of it. I do not know anything about power so I would like to know.

Funny about the ghost train having its own generator, which one, would of looked good, if it was Haunted Hotel, with the colour and lightening effects.
Top Gunner14
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Post by Top Gunner14 »

Of course they want to sell papers, that's there buisness,people will probably see it on the front cover this morning and loads of people will get out and buy it. But it is a shame with another problem for the show, even though its a minor one, it'll still be big down there.
ozshowkid
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Post by ozshowkid »

Haloween has its own gen set built into the ride, the whole thrill ride area was out for no more than 25 minutes, every ride operator did what they were supposed to do. But we are the bad guys in the paper, I can't wait till i see a reporter walking around the grounds today. These people don't care who they ruin or how they go about it as long as they get there story and it sells. We were doing what we were supposed to and I had a camera man follow my every move which really pissed me off, he even tried geating up on the deck through the exit gate while we were lowering the ride. One of the shows main trips went so they had to find out why, they did and when that happened we tested everything again and opened up again.

Cheers OZshowkid
come one, come all, come in its time for a showtime spin
princess
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Post by princess »

Ever thought about writing a letter to the editor Oz.
ozshowkid
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Post by ozshowkid »

Yeah but what for they will only edit it to what they want the public to see, so its not worth the effort.
come one, come all, come in its time for a showtime spin
scorpionSA
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Post by scorpionSA »

I'm actually wondering whether more of the show could have actually have been blacked out. The show lady says it was minor because the Jubille Pavillion and Goyder Pavillion still had power ------ that would not even be 25% of the showgrounds!. Have a look at the showground map. But the thing is the Goyder Pavillion is brand new this year - in fact on Friday morning the were still finishing the gates out the front of it - I'm wondering if it and the Jubille Pavillion which are connected by the Duncan Gallery actually might have only just got on to this seperate circuit breaker --- It wouldn't surprise me if the whole showgrounds was on one circuit breaker before that!

Mind you the wouldn't have to go very far to complain. ETSA's head office is only just down the road from the showgrounds...
scorpionSA
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Post by scorpionSA »

Just wondering if this is Oz

"to all the worry worts i am working at the show runing a ride and when the power went out there was no safety issue with the pepole on the rides as all of the rides do have a back up systems in case of power failure the might not be the quickest way of bringing the rides down with out power but are the safest no one was ever in any danger all of the staff are trianed on what to do in case of this sort of emergancy!!
Posted by: showie mick of 1:30pm today "

taken from www.adelaidenow.com.au
princess
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Post by princess »

I would say it was Mick, scorpian lol :lol:. Good on Mick for writing to the paper.
HUSSRAINBOW
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Post by HUSSRAINBOW »

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Found these on FLICKR....
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Top Gunner14
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Post by Top Gunner14 »

Good find Huss, also, I thought the Drop would still be operating as that works off its own generator all the time, even at Sydney. Yes, it's good to see a showie write in to clear things up and to tell the truthful side of things.
ozshowkid
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Post by ozshowkid »

No that wasn't me although i did write to them but it didn't get published, its over now so i'm not worried. I was all over the news though letting people off Space Roller.
come one, come all, come in its time for a showtime spin
princess
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Post by princess »

least that was a more positive way to be seen in the media, Oz.
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