Legendary Missouri Roller Coaster Being Retired After 2023 Season
A true coaster legend will be no more after the 2023 tourist season. A Missouri park announced today that one of their rides which has been going strong for more than 50 years will be retired later this year.
I saw this mentioned in a conversation on the Missouri sub-Reddit page that Silver Dollar City will be retiring "Fire in the Hole" later this year. The Springfield News-Leader confirms this sad coaster news.
The history of "Fire in the Hole" also includes tragedy. Wikipedia mentions that in 1972, the same year it debuted, an Arkansas woman fell out of one of the cars near the end of the ride, but only suffered minor injuries. But, it was on July 9, 1980 when "Fire in the Hole" became known for a fatal accident when a 23-year-old man was beheaded by a beam when the coaster mistakenly took off on a maintenance track.
I remember my parents taking me to Silver Dollar City and we rode "Fire in the Hole" twice. I was terrified, but loved every minute of it. The feeling when you see the train light directly ahead and then the coaster dives underground at the last second was an adrenaline-fueled experience. Nothing quite like it these days.
Special events are planned around "Fire in the Hole" at Silver Dollar City beginning March 11, 2023. There will never be another coaster quite like it.
