Wildfire is a

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be ...

Kolmården Wildlife Park Kolmården Wildlife Park () is a zoo that opened in 1965 overlooking Bråviken bay in Sweden. It is the largest zoo in Scandinavia, includes the first dolphinarium in Scandinavia, which opened in 1969 and has daily shows, and the world's first ...

located in

Kolmården Kolmården () is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge that separates the Swedish provinces of Södermanland and Östergötland, two of the country's main agricultural areas, from each other, and in historic times, along with Tylöskog ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction, the roller coaster is both the fastest wooden coaster in Europe, and the joint-tallest wooden coaster in the world. Throughout the 2-minute ride, trains travel through three inversions and twelve airtime hills, whilst reaching speeds of up to .

History

In April 2014, Wildfire was revealed in a press release on Kolmården's official website. The roller coaster was Rocky Mountain Construction's first in Europe, and

Vekoma Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is an amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is a syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld. History The company originally manu ...

manufactured the power and control systems of the ride. On 28 October 2016, the coaster ceased operations after only one season when its permit was revoked by the government citing environmental concerns. Speculation ensued that the ride may be torn down as a result. On 28 January 2017, a report surfaced that Wildfire would be allowed to remain standing while a license to continue operation was being discussed. The zoning for the roller coaster was officially approved by the county's council in March 2017, and Wildfire reopened in June 2017.

Ride experience

After the train is checked and dispatched, it makes a sharp right hand turn into the

chain lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from ...

. Once at the crest, it enters a right hand banked turn before passing over another crest and into the first drop. The train then drops , reaching an 83-degree angle and its maximum speed of ; before banking up into its first element, an inverted Zero-G stall. From here the train twists through two airtime hills and two high banked turns before encountering its next inversion, a heartline roll. Following this, the track descends to ground level as it passes through several more strong airtime hills, prior to a second heartline roll. The ride finishes with a ski-slalom style right to left section before hitting the brakes and returning to the station.

Awards

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://wildfire.kolmarden.com/ Roller coasters in Sweden Buildings and structures in Östergötland County Norrköping Municipality