After fire, White Water to reopen Tuesday

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By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Six Flags White Water Park will reopen Tuesday after being closed since Sunday's fire.

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Whitney Grant, Special A fire burns near a pool at White Water park Sunday.

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On Monday morning, staff at Six Flags White Water Park in Marietta were informing visitors that the attraction was closed.

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Kendell Kelton, Six Flags spokeswoman, said Monday that crews worked non-stop to repair the damage from Sunday's storage unit fire. The park will open at the normal time of 10 a.m.

Fire officials are still working to determine a cause of the blaze."

An Acworth grandmother spending a hot Sunday at the park with her family didn't realize initially that a nearby building was on fire.

"It looked like steam at first," Dianna Moser told the AJC as she stood across the street from Six Flags White Water Park late Sunday afternoon.

Within moments, she said she was scrambling to find her family members and grab their belongings as people yelled "Fire!"

Moser, her two daughters and five grandchildren were among the patrons evacuated after a maintenance building caught on fire around 4 p.m., according to Marietta police and fire officials.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was contained to a building that stores inner tubes near the wave pool and a nearby stairwell, Officer Michael Gardner of the Marietta Police Department told the AJC.

"It looked like a solid wall of flames," Whitney Grant, Moser's daughter, told the AJC. Grant saw the flames while floating in the Lazy River at the park.

People were quickly and safely evacuated from the park, due to a staff that's trained for situations like this, Gardner said. There were people who were angry and wanted to stay, but no fights or arrests were reported, he said.

"The primary concern was getting everybody out of the park safely," Gardner said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Gardner said.

Marietta and Cobb firefighters responded to the scene, and Cobb police and the sheriff's office assisted with the evacuation. Fire crews were on the scene for several hours fighting any additional hot spots.

Authorities routed traffic out of the park northbound on Cobb Parkway throughout the afternoon.

Although it was hectic as the park was being emptied, Moser said the park staff worked quickly to get everyone to safety.

"We were given vouchers, so we'll definitely come back," Moser said.

-- Raisa Habersham and Larry Hartstein contributed to this report.