‘Beyond repair:’ Derby dinosaur attraction shifting gears after fire
A popular Derby attraction suffered a loss this weekend after a lightning strike set a 100-foot dinosaur on fire, leading to its demise.
The Sauroposeidon animatronic, which weighed 60 tons, just finished repairs this month after suffering from wind damage. But this latest fire has left the dinosaur “beyond repair,” said Guy Gsell, Field Station: Dinosaur’s executive producer.
“All of the skin (and) all of the foam, is gone off it,” he said. “It was under such pressure with the heat that all of the electronics in it, all the animatronics, got burned.
“So either we just need to replace the whole thing, or just come up with another plan.”
But replacing the dinosaur isn’t a simple task, Gsell said.
“Pretty much all the dinosaur manufacturers are China, so they are not shipping right now (because of tariffs),” Gsell said. “Even if I wanted to replace it as soon as possible, I really have no capacity to do that right now.”
The fire was caused by a lightning strike around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Steven Howe, the park’s manager, said.
“The mini golf is the last part open, and that closes at eight,” Howe said. “It was kind of funny, the person working mini golf texted, texted and said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’”
The attraction did not let the fire affect business, and the park was back open to the public on Sunday.
“We had an extensive conversation with the fire marshal, and there were no safety concerns, and so we made the decision that we’re going to be open,” Howe said. “People want to know what’s going on. People are wanting to look, so we want them to have that opportunity.”
Instead of taking down the dinosaur, the attraction is taking a different approach.
The skeleton of the dinosaur will remain in its usual spot, now with pictures of how the dinosaur was built as well as pieces of animatronics for guests to view.
“It’s very rare that anyone gets to see what it looks like inside one of these dinosaurs,” Gsell said. “So that’s what we’re going to do now and make it a learning opportunity for everybody.”
Beyond this dinosaur, the park still has 39 other dinosaurs to go and view as well as a mini golf course and 10 acres of walking trails.
‘I still can’t believe it’
The Sauroposeidon was the only dinosaur harmed during Saturday night’s storm.
“(The) dinosaurs are pretty well spaced out. I don’t think that dinosaur was any closer than 25 or 30 feet away (from others). So no one else got burned, and nothing else happened,” Gsell said.
Gsell said a lightning strike was something the attraction could not prepare for.
“I still can’t believe it,” Gsell said. “I’ve been to (parks) from China to the Czech Republic to Colorado, everywhere, I’ve been to all the dinosaur parks. No one has ever had a dinosaur hit by lightning.”
“It’s like preparing for a tornado. You kind of do your best, and then you pick it up,” Howe said.
Social media could also not believe it, as it was flooded with photos of the fire and comments about the event.
“The response has been . . . overwhelmingly positive,” Howe said. “There are plenty of jokes and all from all sorts of angles, but that’s, you know, that’s community.”
The Derby Fire Department couldn’t help but find humor in the situation, writing on Facebook: “Crews were able to gain access and prevent the fire from spreading to other dinosaurs thus sparing an extinction level event.”
The comment section was also full of jokes.
“First time a meteor takes em out and now (lightning).......Dinos can’t catch a break,” one comment on the Facebook post read.
“Well done Derby FD....if only you were there 65 million years ago the world might be a different place,” another comment read.
The community’s response was not just humor, Howe said.
“I’ve been really impressed with the people that have gone on and said, ‘Hey, I hope no one’s hurt.’ That is always really nice the community is looking out for individuals like that,” Howe said.
Howe said that the fire response was “outstanding.”
“The fire didn’t get more than 10 feet from (that) space,” Howe said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better response.”
Field Station: Dinosaurs is located at 2999 N. Rock Road and is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The attraction opened in 2018.
