Countywide : Man Repairing Ride Electrocuted at Fair

A Los Alamitos man was electrocuted while repairing an amusement ride at the Orange County Fair, authorities said Sunday.

Ron Vogt, 45, was fatally injured about 11:20 p.m. Saturday when his forehead touched an exposed wire as he worked on the Gravitron ride, fair officials said.

“He was underneath the ride to fix a lighting wire,” said Jill Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fair. “When his forehead touched another wire, he became rigid.”

Vogt was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach after the accident and was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later, authorities said.

Lloyd said Vogt was a carnival ride operator who worked for B&B; Amusement based in Fountain Valley. Officials from B&B; Amusement could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Lloyd said Vogt “took it upon himself to try and fix the lights.”

The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has started an investigation into the incident. An inspector examined the ride early Sunday morning, Lloyd said.

“We want to find out what kind of condition the ride is in and whether or not there are violations of state health and safety laws,” said Jim Brown, the regional director of Cal-OSHA’s Anaheim office. “We have nothing to release at this time.”

Another safety inspector from the state department of industrial relations determined that there was nothing mechanically wrong with the ride, Lloyd said. The problem was with the lighting system, she added.

The Gravitron, which spins riders around in a circle, was shut down after the incident and reopened late Sunday when the lighting problem was fixed, Lloyd said.

Mike Michael, 23 of Boron, who was operating the ride at the time of the accident, said he saw Vogt’s body become rigid after his forehead touched the live wire. Michael dragged Vogt out from underneath the ride and called for help.

No other people at the fair witnessed the incident, Lloyd said.

“Evidently, this occurred out of view of the crowd,” Lloyd said. “The ride was in between loads and just two people were waiting to go on the ride.”