The pine was mainly sourced from land owned by Holmen in Hälsingland. It was then processed at both Iggesund and Braviken Sawmills to achieve the highest strength class and thus meet the strict standards demanded for the structure of a roller coaster.
“Kolmården Wildlife Park got in touch with us because they wanted to build in Swedish wood, preferably through a partner working in the same area,” explains Johan Hedin, marketing manager at Holmen`s business area Wood products.
Using a renewable material as wood was a given from the outset, since the wildlife park is keen to highlight its concern for animals and nature. However, Rocky Mountain Construction, a world leader in constructing this type of roller coaster, had some stringent criteria.
“They wanted extremely strong, treated pine in very large dimensions. Plus all the drawings were to American standards, so we had to carry out some detective work before we finally found the right pine in Hälsingland, says Johan Hedin.”
The wood has a strength class of C35 and to ensure that it really was of the required quality, Iggesund Sawmill used its advanced X-ray log sorting system. This can identify logs with close growth rings and high density. The finest logs were thus sorted out based on the X-ray results. These were then sent off to Braviken Sawmill, where they were sawn, dried, planed and sorted according to their strength.
“Today, Wildfire is considered Europe's best, and the world's third best, roller coaster. We are proud to have been able to contribute to this, says Johan Hedin.”
The Wildfire roller coaster at Kolmården Wildlife Park
- opened in 2016
- rises 57 metres up in the air and has an incline of 83 degrees
- reaches speeds of 113 km per hour
- was built by US firm Rocky Mountain Construction, which specialises in wooden roller coasters, and will be the first of its kind outside the USA.