Firefighters rescue passengers stuck upside down for hours on Wisconsin roller coaster

On Sunday, eight people attending a fair in Crandon, Wisconsin got more of a thrill than they were likely seeking when they hopped on the Fireball roller coaster. A mechanical failure caused the ride to stop, leaving those on board hanging upside down - for hours.

Videos on social media show the passengers hanging helplessly at the top of the ride before the fire department finally came to help them down. Fortunately, an off-duty firefighter with specialized ropes-rescue training also happened to be at the fair and was able to help advise the fire department on how to safely get passengers down. Of the eight people on the ride, seven were children. The first to finally make it back to solid ground did so after about two hours and the last one to safely make it down was stranded up there for more than three hours. All of the eight passengers were taken to the hospital for evaluation.

All of this came just two days after a roller coaster in North Carolina was shut down due to a huge crack in one of its support beams, causing the ride to wobble away from it completely.