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2 Your Town New Roads: New inspectors and ride operators for this year's Harvest Festival
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NEW ROADS - This year, the City of New Roads is bringing on a new fair operator after last year's incident where two teenage girls fell out of a Ferris wheel at the Harvest Festival. Inspectors with the Office of the State Fire Marshal also examined all ten rides at the festival and cleared them for operation on Friday.
Last year, the State Fire Marshal spoke to the Investigative Unit about getting more deputies certified as amusement ride safety inspectors as part of the agency's effort to bring ride inspections back under the agency's purview. The change came after two teens fell from the Ferris wheel at the previous Harvest Festival where a third-party inspector approved the rides for operation.
Since then, more than two dozen deputies have been certified, some of whom checked out the rides at the Harvest Festival on Friday morning.
"Anytime that you have more people looking at something, it's better for everybody," Capt. Robert Aucoin with the State Fire Marshal said.
The inspectors looked at each ride, searching for missing pins, ground leveling blocks and other safety mechanisms.
Also new at this festival, New Roads city officials hired Mitchell Brothers Amusements to run the rides instead of Crescent City Amusements which operated last year.
"Our new ride operator is Mitchell Brothers. They've also been involved in the State Fair, so we feel very confident in them," New Roads Mayor Theron Smith said.
Mitchell Brothers subcontracted Mad-Jax Amusements, a company that is doing business as Midwest Rides, to bring the different carnival rides, according to a ride operator for Mad-Jax.
Last year, the two teens fell from a specific Ferris wheel model called an Expo Wheel. This year, a different Ferris wheel made by a different manufacturer, Luna-Park Rides, will lift riders into the air.
But before that, inspectors told WBRZ they will check every piece of equipment to ensure a safe festival.
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