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An investigation is underway at Lagoon Amusement Park after fire crews battled two blazes in the same spot hours apart. The flames burned down two popular attractions, leaving the park to figure out what it’ll take to rebuild.
In the main thoroughfare of Lagoon Sunday morning, heavy equipment broke up a large pile of rubble. It contained the charred remnants of decades of fond memories and family fun, as well as a piece of Lagoon history.
“Very much appreciated by the customers, and Lagoon themselves take a lot of pride in it,” Chief Guido Smith of the Farmington City Fire Department said.
Lagoon Amusement Park posted photos that show what the colorful, quaint
used to look like. Whimsical and historic carousel animals lined the walls, serving as a border for shop displays, featuring an array of sweets.
Saturday morning, Smith said Lagoon employees smelled something inside the shop, which is closed for the winter, and called 911.
Crews responded and called in four other agencies to assist in fighting the fire within the candy shop.
“We were able to save some very historical and costly items, such as carousel horses in that process,” Smith recounted.
He said at the time, it appeared the fire started because of electrical components. They planned to return Sunday for a full investigation.
“(We) were quite successful, actually, in putting a stop to the fire and extinguishing it within a matter of a few hours,” he said.
With the carousel horses saved and the blaze appearing to be extinguished, Smith described how firefighters went through all their processes to make sure the fire was indeed completely out. However, because historical structures that have been remodeled can sometimes have small voids or difficult-to-access areas, Smith said they placed the area on “fire watch” in case it rekindled.
Hours later at around 9:20 p.m., that’s exactly what happened.
Smoke and flames again rose from Carousel Candy after Smith guessed smoldering in some small space firefighters couldn’t reach flared back up.
“This time, the fire was more involved and more complicated and complex to fight,” he explained. “We utilized the same five agencies again as a group effort, to not only try to save the building, but save the surrounding exposures to it.”
The flames overtook the children’s bumper car ride, which a Lagoon representative said dates back to the 1960s.
While firefighters had managed to save the ride during the first fire, Smith indicated the second fire spread to that area too fast for them to stop it.
The blaze burned the entire shop and ride to the ground.
As the park now cleans up from the loss, they posted on social media that they are already making plans to rebuild, determined to open on time for the 2022 season.
“It could have been worse. We hate to see any loss of historical structures/amusements for folks that cherish in those memories,” Smith said. “We were very proud of the fact that we were able to stop the fire from spreading to additional exposures, which took a lot of hard work and effort and energy from great public servants who really worked hard all night.”