Excerpted from ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES
REPORT-Saturday, June 7, 1997 Vol. 1, No. 158
Emergency Rescuers Killed in
Tragic Electrocution
By ENN News Team
MARION, OHIO (ENN) - Four people, including two firefighters and
an Emergency Medical Technician, were killed and six others were
injured when an emergency worker preparing to move an injured
driver from an accident scene came into contact with a downed
high voltage power line. The tragedy occurred on Thursday night,
on a rural roadway, about 40 miles north of Columbus, Ohio.
Emergency crews responded to a 911 call reporting that a pickup
truck had struck a utility pole. Firefighters and EMT's were
getting ready to remove the 28-year-old driver of the vehicle
when one of the rescue personnel accidently came into a contact
with a high voltage wire. Electricity passed through him and
because everyone was standing in water around the scene, the
electricity passed through to the other victims.
Killed were the driver of the pickup, Andrew Bigler, New
Bloomington Fire Department Lt. James Johnson, age 63;
21-year-old New Bloomington Firefighter Charles Rudd; and Rural
Metro EMT Robert Good, age 30. Other volunteer firefighters,
paramedics and a Sheriff's deputy were injured in the incident.
ERRI expresses its condolences to the family, friends and
co-workers of all the victims. A very tragic incident....
(c) Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS Service (ENN), 1997. All Rights
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