Photo: Cape Coral Fire Dept.
JULY 11, 2016
CAPE CORAL, FL
The City of Cape Coral has announced that Sun Splash Family Waterpark is expected to reopen to the general public on Tuesday, July 12.
Swim camps scheduled to begin Monday will be held as scheduled. Participants should enter through the side gate.
The popular water park has been closed since Wednesday when an early morning fire completely destroyed the building that housed the water parks guest services, restaurant, and gift shop.
It took firefighters over two hours to extinguish the fire.
Damage from the fire is estimated to be around $700,000.
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Sun Splash gets ready to open its doors after massive fire Posted: Jul 12, 2016 7:02 AM EST Updated: Jul 12, 2016 7:02 AM EST
CAPE CORAL -
Sun Splash Family Waterpark is ready to open its gates less than a week after a fire destroyed the park's main entrance.
"We had no power. We had no computers. We had no point of sales system," said manager, Sandy Greiner.
Officials initially thought the fire was sparked by a golf cart that had malfunctioned. But now they believe multiple factors could have played a role, including an animal chewing through wires.
"We just had a pile of burned up stuff, and honestly, everything we need is in that building, everything we needed," said Greiner.
Crews worked from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. for six days to get the park back open quickly. Cape Coral residents are amazed by how quickly everything was done.
"I think it's awesome that they got back open so quickly," said Anthony Calello. "My daughter takes swim lessons here, and we've been doing this for a couple years now with all the kids. I have four children. All four have gone through swimming lessons here, so it's great for them."
"They've been active. They had good planning. Hopefully everything went well so when they reopen, we'll see exactly what happened," added Wiener Rouzeau.
Greiner says if anything good came from the fire it was that the building built in 1991 will be replaced with a new one that will better serve the community.
"For all the bad that happened, it just now has been equaled out by all the good that has happened," she said.
She says the support from the community has been unreal.
"It's been amazing," she said. "Thank you."
The park will open at its regular time of 10 a.m. The city plans to begin construction of a new building during its off season in the fall. The hope is to have it ready by next spring.