Lightning strike turns 100-foot dinosaur into raging fireball as stunned park visitors look on

A monolithic animatronic dinosaur caught occurrence astatine a Kansas taxable parkland aft being struck by lightning implicit the weekend.

Fire crews successful Derby, Kansas, responded astir 8:30 p.m. Saturday to reports of a lightning onslaught and a dinosaur connected occurrence astatine the park, named Field Station: Dinosaurs, according to a Facebook station from the Derby Fire Department.

When crews arrived, they recovered flames coming from a Sauroposeidon replica, a 100-foot-long animatronic that weighs astir 60 tons and is 1 of the park’s largest attractions.

LIMPING DINOSAUR'S TWISTED PATH PUZZLES PALEONTOLOGISTS, 150 MILLION YEARS LATER: 'VERY RARE'

Guy Gazelle, enforcement shaper astatine Field Station: Dinosaurs, told Fox News Digital successful an interrogation that witnesses adjacent saw the lightning onslaught the structure.

"People connected the crushed really saw the lightning bolt," Gazelle said.

Lightning struck and ignited a elephantine animatronic dinosaur astatine a Kansas taxable park, pictured here.  (Derby Fire Department (John Hooper Jr.)/Facebook)

Crews from adjacent agencies assisted successful putting retired the fire, which was yet extinguished without further harm to the park.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

The parkland was closed astatine the clip and nary injuries were reported, Gazelle added.

In the Facebook post, the occurrence section joked astir the antithetic call, saying, "This is the archetypal dinosaur occurrence Derby has experienced successful 65 cardinal years."

Nearby crews helped enactment retired the fire, which was extinguished without further harm to the parkland — pictured here.  (Derby Fire Department (John Hooper Jr.)/Facebook)

The destroyed animatronic cannot beryllium salvaged. It was reduced to its alloy framework aft the occurrence burned distant its outer layers and interior mechanisms.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES

"All of the motors and the mechanisms got burned, and 100% of the tegument was burned disconnected the dinosaur," Gazelle said.

He added that the operation had been damaged successful a caller windstorm and had conscionable been repaired.

"We conscionable fixed it, and we were waiting to overgarment it, and past it got struck by lightning," helium said.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

Despite the damage, the parkland reopened the pursuing day. It inactive has dozens of different dinosaurs connected display, it said.

The parkland was closed astatine the clip and nary injuries were reported. (Derby Fire Department (John Hooper Jr.)/Facebook)

For now, the parkland plans to crook the remains into an acquisition display, allowing visitors to spot however the animatronic was built.

"We’ll person a framework determination that radical tin look at, which is thing astir radical ne'er get to see," Gazelle said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Field Station: Dinosaurs is simply a 10-acre outdoor attraction featuring much than 40 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, on with walking trails, unrecorded shows and interactive exhibits.

Gazelle said the parkland was fortunate the occurrence did not spread.

"The dinosaurs are not peculiarly adjacent to each other, truthful it didn’t spread," helium said. "We were precise lucky."