Lightning and then tragedy struck an animatronic dinosaur park in Derby, Kansas on Saturday as the spark ignited flames that consumed the Derby’s Field Station: Dinosaurs experience’s 100 ft-long, 60 ton Sauroposeidon. The animatronic, a recreation of a massive long-necked herbivore that was wiped out by a similarly cruel, chance act of nature eons ago, was accurately reported by local officials to be the “first dinosaur fire Derby has experienced in 65 million years.”
“This evening at about 8:30pm, Derby Fire crews were dispatched to multiple reports of a lightning strike and a Dinosaur on fire at Derby’s Field Station: Dinosaurs. Units arrived to heavy fire showing from a three-story Sauroposeidon (meaning Earthquake God Lizard) Dinosaur. This Sauropod is the park’s largest herbivore from the early Cretaceous period with a total length of roughly 100ft, weighing nearly 60 tons! Crews were able to gain access and prevent the fire from spreading to other dinosaurs thus sparing an extinction level event. The fire was extinguished with automatic-aid from SCFD1 and Mulvane Fire. This is the first dinosaur fire Derby has experienced in 65 million years. Field Station Dinosaur plans to open tomorrow (Sunday) as scheduled! There are 39 other dinosaurs to see and experience,” the department wrote in a Facebook post, evidently having failed to consider that the burned remains of a hulking robotic dinosaur could itself become an attraction.