Firehawk's Final Flight

January 29, 2022

Originally published 11-15-2018

Author's note: The original edition of this article featured many wonderful and thorough photos documenting this attraction's last moments operating. My younger self deleted those photos from his phone after he uploaded them to the blog, thinking they would be preserved forever on the blog. As mentioned in my preface to the current site, the original blog was unfortunately deleted, wiping those photos from the world completely. As you'll see, some of these photographs from the original article were able to saved. Others were not. I deeply regret not saving all the photos, and apologize.

I have done a lot of unique things in my life, but going to a funeral for a roller coaster was a first for me.
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Firehawk was never my favorite coaster at Kings Island. In 2018, I only rode it once before I learned it was closing. I have been attending the park since 2007, but I did not take my first ride on Firehawk until 2016. Long lines and a generally unpleasant ride experience never made it a must-ride for me. Interestingly enough, Firehawk was the only ride at the park I have ever got stuck on. The ride broke down in 2016 while I was on the brake run (photo below). We were stuck for a little under two hours.

On September 24, 2018, Kings Island officially announced Firehawk would close on October 28th. Park associates were invited for final rides after the park closed that night.
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It was a chilly, windy October night as the group of employees, myself included, made their way through the deserted park to Firehawk. Many of us stopped at the entrance marquee to take pictures, while others got right in line. I got in line for the yellow train when I first arrived. It would be my last ride on the yellow train.

After I disembarked, I got right back in line. The queue would be closed at 8:30 p.m. and it was getting very close to that time. It was time for the last ride of the night--and my last ride ever.

An empty queue.

View of the station from the queue.

A hulking mass of twisting steel rises above.

Decisions, decisions. Let's go to the left.

A view out of the station.

View towards the front of the station...

And a view towards the back.

Red train rolls back in.

It was time. The final train that we associates were allowed to ride. I clambered into the front seat. The train lowered and we were on our way rising up the lift hill. The sound of the obnoxiously loud chain lift filled my ears. I looked all around me. It would be the last time I would ever take in the view of the darkened park from that angle. The train disengaged from the train and we swooped down the hill, through the loop, and around the helix one final time.

The train arrived back into the station and we rose back up and disembarked, some of the very last people to ever ride. As a writer of Kings Island history, it felt so strange to now actually be a part of Kings Island's history.