مباحث مختلف در ايمني برق

McQUEENEY - Two men were airlifted to a San Antonio hospital after surviving an electric shock Thursday morning at a lakefront house under construction on Happy Haven Road on Lake McQueeney.

"Two construction workers were putting flashing on a roof," said Sgt. J.C. Batey of the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department.

Both men were in a bucket lift transporting them to the roof of the two-story home.

"Some part of them or the flashing came in contact with the residential electric lines," Batey said.

Four electric lines were visible directly above the location where the base of the lift was positioned.

The men suffered burns on their upper torso, Batey said.

They have been identified as Thomas Gale Friemann, 74, of Bigfoot, and his son, Thomas George Friemann, 49, also of Bigfoot, a small community in Frio County southwest of San Antonio.

A neighbor, with a house under construction nearby, saw the incident and immediately phoned Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative while his partner simultaneously phoned 911.

The neighbor, who declined to provide his name, said that right after the men were shocked he could see smoke coming from their hair, their hands and their feet.

"The men were alert and conscious and talking" when emergency personnel arrived, Batey said. "GVEC responded as quickly as we did and provided great assistance in helping with the situation."

The shocked victims remained seated in the bucket lift while a GVEC worker used a bucket truck to transport him up to the electric lines which were tied off before firefighters and paramedics went up to bring down the men.

McQueeney Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Tim Bogisch said the VFD's personnel worked closely with the Seguin Fire Department to extricate and treat the victims and also set up the helicopter landing zone when the two men were airlifted.

"We had to use our aerial truck from the Seguin Fire Department to get them down," said SFD Battalion Chief Rusty Krueger.

While the rescue was under way, two aircraft, an AirEvac helicopter and a Methodist AirCare helicopter, landed in an open field on the other side of Happy Haven Road.

Both men appeared to have difficulty rising to their feet in the lift, and the rented lift could not be lowered because it had seized up or shut down, apparently as a result of the power surge when the men were shocked.

They were treated at the scene by Seguin Emergency Medical Service and taken to the helicopters which transported them to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.