An abandoned Six Flags roller coaster went up in flames over the weekend.
Six Flags is one of the world’s largest amusement park corporations, renowned for its adrenaline-pumping roller coasters, family-friendly attractions, and seasonal events. Founded in 1961, the company merged with Cedar Fair in 2024, giving the new group a total of 51 properties across North America.

While Six Flags is always making new investments and additions at its parks, it’s also shuttered its fair share of locations over the years. Most famously, it abandoned Six Flags New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the city, leaving some areas of the park underwater.
For almost two decades, the park – once home to the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants The Ride, Batman: The Ride, and Road Runner Express – has sat abandoned, with its rides and buildings becoming favorites for urban explorers as they were left to decay. The site has also been used for film shoots, including Jurassic World (2015), Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013), and Reminiscence (2021).

Last October, however, Smoot Construction partnered with developer Bayou Phoenix to finally start demolishing the park.
Amid the ongoing demolition process, a fire broke out on Saturday. As per Nola.com, the blaze began as workers dismantled Mega Zeph – a wooden roller coaster that only operated for five years before Katrina hit. Sparks used by the crews ignited the structure, leaving a 15-foot section of track about 70 feet in the air on fire.
Although motorists and nearby residents reported seeing flames and smoke, the city’s fire department stated that the blaze did not pose any risk to public safety.
Shot of roller coaster tracks fire at former Six Flags site in New Orleans East. 📷: @WWLTV photographer Sam Lowe
Shot of roller coaster tracks fire at former Six Flags site in New Orleans East. 📷: @WWLTV photographer Sam Lowe https://t.co/xwxIjeevI6 pic.twitter.com/mnP9CeNP56
— Lamar Bourgeois III (@lamarbourgeois) January 19, 2025
Troy Henry, the leader of the site’s redevelopment project – which will eventually see it welcome youth sports complexes, a water park, two hotels, and a film studio – told Nola.com that the blaze may have been burning for a while before it was spotted post-sundown.
“That old roller coaster is a combination of steel and wood, which gave it that old clackety-clack sound,” Henry said. “As workers were cutting some of the steel away, some of the wood caught fire. They have isolated it, and it is not a threat.” He added that crews plan to cut that section and submerge it in the adjacent man-made lake.

While Six Flags New Orleans technically debuted in 2003, it was previously opened in 2000 as Jazzland before Six Flags took over the park’s lease in 2002. It spent $20 million upgrading the park and planned to add a water park before Katrina hit just a couple of years into the park’s existence.
Although the park had installed drainage pipes to protect it from flooding, this system was overwhelmed when Lake Pontchartrain flooded during the hurricane. Once the storm subsided, the park was left submerged in six feet of water, which took over a month to leave—worsening what was already a severe level of damage.
Did you ever get a chance to visit Six Flags New Orleans?