QuoteALTOONA, Iowa -- At least three fire crews responded to the Adventureland theme park in Altoona Saturday afternoon.
Adventureland spokeswoman Molly Vincent said the fire is contained to an area known as 'Main Street' inside the park and no one has been injured.
The fire is so big, smoke could be seen from the Des Moines International Airport.
Vincent said Adventureland is closed for the season. There is a popular gun show going on nearby, but it is not connected to the fire.
KCCI viewer photos show a lot of smoke and fire billowing from shops inside Adventureland. Fire crews are keeping everyone out of the area.
MORE PHOTOS OF THE FIRE (http://www.kcci.com/slideshow/news/22622149/detail.html)
(http://www.kcci.com/2010/0221/22622436_240X180.jpg)
Oh! That picture...it...reminds me of...uh, something....."Run boys, run, don't be slow, fire on the..." WHOOPS! Wrong theme park!
(Just kidding around. Sorry to hear about the fire. At least they were closed and hopefully no one was hurt.)
^that's all right, that's what the pictue reminded me of as well.
No one was hurt and only one block of the main street area was affected - thanks in part to the "road" that goes between that section and the rest of the main street area.
Complete loss though, so hopefully they can get it rebuilt before the season starts
If they try to rebuild it before the season opens it will be a far cry from what they had before. It looked like a quality area of the park, I hope they try to rebuild to that standard.
I hope they are able to get through this season OK with such a loss.
My heart would drop if I saw photos of SDC like that, so I can understand how some would feel about this sad situation. You can find Main Street near the entrance to the map, and more photos on the link to the Des Moines Register.
(http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu218/rubedugans/Adventureland2002.jpg)
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/02/20/adventureland-ablaze-crews-battle-fire-near-shops-area/ (http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/02/20/adventureland-ablaze-crews-battle-fire-near-shops-area/)
^in that map, the location of the fire was the buildings on the LEFT side of the street just past the square. That entire block of buildings is now completely gone.
This is sad to hear. I too hope they can get it rebuilt to the previous look.
This makes me sad, I am glad it wasn't on the side of the Palace Theatre, this way they may be able to rebuild before the summer.
It is scary about the speculated causes of the fire...
"park officials said they believe a ceiling collapsed in the toy store and sparked an electrical fire"
The original buildings were built between 1973-1975, I believe these were some of the first there.
If a ceiling collapsed, maybe years of snow may have been a factor. IK've only been there twice, but I really did like that park. It hit me as what a small amusement park should be.