Demolition Company Shares Views of the Demise of Firehawk at Kings Island

© O'Rourke Wrecking Company

With the park closed for the year, Kings Island has gotten to work on removing Firehawk, their flying roller coaster that opened in 2007.  Previously, Firehawk operated as X-Flight at Geauga Lake from 2001 through 2006.

A business named O'Rourke Wrecking Company has been brought in to demolish the ride, leaving no lingering questions as to whether or not the coaster would be relocated.  It will not.

The top photo was at the start of the process, with some of the track and supports clipped down and piled neatly to be hauled off.

© O'Rourke Wrecking Company

Moving forward a bit in time, the company has removed nearly all of the back half of the ride.  Still, the pieces are in neat little piles, gotta love some organization in a major demolition job!  The crew was able to remove the lower track easily, using machinery to clip and grab at it after being cut until it was on the ground.  You can also see the trains on the ground in the lower right of the photo, perhaps these will be sent to Carowinds for parts?

Even more recently, O'Rourke shared this video of the top of the lift hill being pulled down.  After separating the large segment and cutting through the supports a bit, the ride was easily able to be pulled over to topple to the ground.  And what a bang it makes when it hits!  Also interesting that the supports attached to the track pieces that fell stayed in place through the fall, a testament to just how strong these roller coasters are!

Also of note, this is the same company that took down Son of Beast around six years ago, with this famous video of the massive lift hill crashing to the ground!  Ahh, memories.