VERNON, NJ – A fire broke out on a waterslide at the Mountain Creek waterpark in Vernon on Tuesday. Firefighters from the town’s four volunteer fire companies responded to the blaze. Park officials and firefighters have yet to disclose the nature or cause of the fire.
Mountain Creek is the new name for the former Action Park water park, one of New Jersey’s most historically notorious amusement parks, once nicknamed “Traction Park”. Action park opened in 1978 and was known for mishaps and injuries being an extreme thrill-seeking destination until it was closed in 1996. Six people were reportedly killed in accidents at the park during its day.
In 1998, the park was bought by Intrawest which began renovating the park and removing some of the more dangerous rides and attractions. The park was renamed, Mountain Creek. In 2014, new owners reverted the name back to Action Park, but that was short-lived. In 2016, it was renamed again to Mountain Creek.
“We can confirm that there was a fire at our water park today that affected our High Anxiety attraction. First and foremost, we are thankful that the park was closed and there were no reported injuries,” Mountain Creek said. “We are grateful to the Vernon and other local responding volunteer fire and EMS departments as well as the Vernon Police, who responded within minutes to help extinguish the fire. While we are certainly disappointed that we won’t have High Anxiety available for the foreseeable future, we know that our resilient team is ready to welcome guests back this weekend for our season-opening as planned this Saturday, June 19th. We want to thank all that have reached out with their concern and support. We look forward to celebrating the start of another great season with you this weekend.”