GALVESTON, Texas \u2013 The Galveston firefighters who rescued eight Houston students stranded nearly 100 feet in the air on a stalled roller coaster said the operation required hours of planning, improvisation and patience to prevent what could have become a tragedy.<\/p>\n
The students were trapped Thursday on the Iron Shark roller coaster at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier after the ride malfunctioned and stopped just short of its highest point.<\/p>\n
Firefighters spent more than four hours bringing the children safely back to the ground after learning the ride\u2019s emergency evacuation elevator was out of service.<\/p>\n
Galveston Firefighters (left to right) Cpt. Mark Morgan Jr., Cpt. John Fearrington, Engineer James Kothmann, Firefighter Gerardo Solis and Engineer Dustin Burnett (back) are among the crew that spent more than four hours working to rescue a group of children stranded nearly 100 feet in the air when a roller coaster broken down on Galveston’s Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas, on May 28, 2026. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t going to have a child fall on our watch,\u201d Capt. John Fearrington of the Galveston Fire Department said. \u201cWe made sure everything was done by the book.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rescue depended on the department\u2019s 105-foot ladder truck, which had returned to service less than 24 hours earlier after being out for maintenance for two months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just so happened to get it back day before yesterday, so perfect timing,\u201d engineer James Kothmann said.<\/p>\n
According to firefighters, the call initially came in as a rescue at Pleasure Pier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just assumed that that was going to be some type of ride issue,\u201d Capt. Mark Morgan Jr. said.<\/p>\n
Galveston Firefighters (left to right) Cpt. Mark Morgan Jr., Cpt. John Fearrington, Engineer James Kothmann, Firefighter Gerardo Solis and Engineer Dustin Burnett (back) are among the crew that spent more than four hours working to rescue a group of children stranded nearly 100 feet in the air when a roller coaster broken down on Galveston’s Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas, on May 28, 2026. (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The department had trained for a similar scenario in the past, but firefighters soon learned the ride\u2019s evacuation equipment was not operational.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were going to have to switch gears and improvise,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n
The ladder was extended to more than 100 feet, leaving firefighters with only a few feet of reach to spare.<\/p>\n
Kothmann said positioning the truck was especially difficult because crews had to maneuver the ladder through sections of the coaster structure while avoiding overhead track components.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very tight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When firefighters reached the students, Fearrington said several were crying and asking how they would be rescued.<\/p>\n
Rather than immediately beginning the technical portion of the operation, firefighters focused on reassuring the children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just said, \u2018Hey, this is who we are. This is what we\u2019re going to do. You\u2019re in good hands,\u2019\u201d Fearrington said.<\/p>\n
Crews joked with the students and carefully explained each step of the rescue process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they see that we\u2019re calm, they typically calm down,\u201d Fearrington said.<\/p>\n
Firefighters fitted each student with a safety harness before releasing the roller coaster restraints. Fearrington said every step was carefully explained and repeatedly checked before anyone was moved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had at some point them clipped onto me,\u201d Fearrington said. \u201cI said, \u2018If something happens to you, I\u2019m going with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At one stage of the rescue, Fearrington detached from the ladder bucket and secured himself directly to the coaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf something happens to our tower truck, I\u2019m up here stuck with y\u2019all,\u201d he recalled telling the students.<\/p>\n
Firefighters rescued the students one at a time using harnesses and the department\u2019s aerial ladder, eventually bringing all eight safely back to the ground.<\/p>\n
Kothmann said the relief on their faces was immediate.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could see the relief \u2014 like, \u2018I made it. I\u2019m on solid ground,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the stress of the situation, firefighters said the students eventually began joking with them.<\/p>\n
One student told firefighters it was her first attempt at riding a roller coaster after friends convinced her to get on.<\/p>\n
Another student left such an impression that he may have inspired a future career choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like, he thinks he wants to be a firefighter now,\u201d Fearrington said.<\/p>\n
The rescue quickly drew national and international attention as videos and images circulated online.<\/p>\n
For the firefighters involved, however, the focus remained on safely bringing the students home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything can happen,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cWe\u2019re asked to do some of the most small, minute jobs, or we could come to work and it\u2019s what happened yesterday. It\u2019s a rewarding career and a rewarding job to be able to feel like you did something to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fearrington said the length of the rescue reflected the department\u2019s commitment to safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne mistake could have turned an inconvenience into a tragedy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t going to have a child fall on our watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GALVESTON, Texas \u2013 The Galveston firefighters who rescued eight Houston students stranded nearly 100 feet in the air…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30370,112939,113206,56,58,57,112943,251,4735,27],"class_list":["post-314772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-caught-on-camera","tag-galveston-fire-department","tag-galveston-pleasure-pier","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-iron-shark","tag-local-news","tag-roller-coaster","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}