Safety is first priority at the Rhea County Fair

“I have got 3 kids that have feel from the Ferris wheel 3 kids”

That is a portion of the 911 dispatch after 3 children fell from a Ferris wheel in Greeneville, Tennessee at a county fairground The oldest of three who fell 30 to 45 feet is a 16-year-old girl… the Greeneville Police Department says that circulating reports of the ride rocking prior to the incident are unsubstantiated

Greenville police Captain Tim Davis said “no one indicated anything about seeing the ride rocking. We do know that there is information out there to the contrary and we are trying to run that information down.”

with the Rhea county fair starting today we wanted to know what sort of preparation and safety checks go into setting up carnival rides….

Harold Fisher President of the Rhea County fair says “Of course safety is in the for front of everyones mind as we put everything together.”

“The carnival folks have to be inspected by the state. This particular group is out of Florida, and they have to be inspected in Tennessee. They have to have permits to operate in Tennessee. They have been inspected in fact they have played at Tullahoma, and they played at Northgate shopping center last week.”

George Thacker Rhea County Executive said “As far as the safety goes of this fair, as far as I know, there has never been anything that has ever happened at this fair, so far. So we will pray that everything keeps going fine at this fair but I think we are definitely watching what is going on around the world, and we are going to make sure this is safe especially this weekend.”

News 12 spoke with the Carnival manager as well who told us that their rides are triple checked daily, and with tonight being opening night the rides will undergo extra safety inspections….