A resident who visited a massive inflatable bounce park outside a Toronto mall that collapsed on Canada Day says she hopes more precautions can be taken to prevent a similar incident.
The structure, billed by the company as “the world’s largest and tallest bounce house,” opened at Bridlewood Mall on June 6 and was set to operate until Sunday.
However, as storms battered the Greater Toronto Area and created a surge in calls to local emergency services on Wednesday, the inflatable structure came down.
A Toronto Police Service spokesperson told CityNews emergency crews were called to the mall, located at Warden Avenue and Finch Avenue East, just before 5:55 p.m. They said they received reports the inflatable flipped over in the wind.
The spokesperson said two people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. They added the Ontario Ministry of Labour was called in to respond to the incident.
Lian Palomo told CityNews she was there at the property with her niece and sister-in-law when the temporary structure came down. While she said they didn’t need to go to the hospital, she called the incident a “traumatic” one in the moment.
“In my view, the incident raises important concerns about the business’s safety practices and whether appropriate procedures were followed as it partially lifted off the ground while we were still inside,” Palomo said in a statement to CityNews.
She said she contacted the company and is awaiting a further response.
A statement posted on Royal Duck’s social media accounts on Thursday said the Bridlewood Mall installation was hit with a storm cell that had wind gusts of approximately 100 km/h.
“The safety of our families, guests and community is our absolute, uncompromised priority,” the statement said in part.
“Due to the sudden onset of the storm and the resulting weather damage to our setup, our onsite team immediately paused operations to secure the area.”
The statement went on to praise the on-site employees “for their swift action during the severe weather.”
For anyone who had tickets, company staff said affected ticketholders would be contacted directly and further operational updates will be forthcoming.
CityNews also contacted Royal Duck Friday afternoon to ask for additional comment, but a response wasn’t immediately available.