SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. -- Trapped on a ride more than 50 feet in the air, some people had to be rescued from a ride at the Shippensburg Fair Monday night. But state officials are making it clear fair rides are safe, and inspections are frequent.
Eight people were stuck on the popular ride, the Zipper. The owner of the ride, Kitty Long of D&K Amusements, says it turned out a motor had burned out and the ride automatically shut down. Emergency responders rescued everyone off the ride after more than an hour.
"Everybody seemed to be in good spirits once their feet hit the ground," says Long.
Long says her staff inspect every ride, every day.
"It was just a freak incident, I mean luckily, everything worked like it's supposed to, it shut everything off and everybody was safe," she says.
The ride remains closed for repairs.
And the Department of Agriculture also inspects every fair ride when it's set up for each fair.
"Once the ride is repaired, our inspector will go back out and re-inspect this ride before it is allowed to resume operation," says Brandi Hunter-Davenport, press secretary for the Department of Agriculture.
National data show that when injuries do happen on rides, they're most commonly suffered by kids under age 13. And the Department of Agriculture says 70 percent of injuries happen because of rider error.
The department keeps inspection records for rides online.